A significant year deserves a suitably diverse and adventurous programme and even with P&O’s long cruising history, they are still managing to discover new ports. A total of 13 new destinations feature, Ancona on Italy’s eastern coast, Durres in Albania and Kalmar in Sweden to name but a few.

Grand Event Cruises:

To mark the 175th anniversary of the formation of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company P&O Cruises will be celebrating in style with all seven ships of the fleet together in their home port of Southampton on the same day, 3rd July 2012. Passengers have the opportunity to be part of this spectacular event by joining one of the seven Grand Event cruises, all departing on the evening of the 3rd July 2012. Leaving their berths on this historic day, the ships’ passengers and their crew will enjoy a Sailaway champagne party on deck, a special 175 gala dinner, Heritage art display, special speakers, Grand Event commemorative gift, Heritage presentations and a World Cruise prize draw. Every passenger (over the age of 17) sailing on each Grand Event cruise will be eligible to win one of seven P&O Cruises 2013 World Cruises. One draw will take place during each Grand Event cruise.

P&O 2012 cruises will go on sale on Saturday 2nd April for Gold Tier members only from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

• No sales on Sunday 3rd April and Monday 4th April
• Cruises will then go on general sale from 8:00am on the following:
• Tuesday 5th April – All March, April and May 2012 departures on sale for all customers
• Wednesday 6th April – All June, July and August 2012 departures on sale for all customers
• Thursday 7th April – All September, October and November 2012 departures on sale for all customers
• Friday 8th April – All December 2012 & January to April 2013 departures on sale for all customers

P&O Cruises offers the greatest choice of ex-UK cruises, sailing 146 roundtrip cruises from Southampton in 2012. Popular demand from passengers has led to an increase in our Northern European cruises throughout summer and winter programmes (on both Aurora and Oriana). More breadth has been introduced into Azura’s 2012 programme with her sailing ex UK cruises from March to December, offering a mix of cruises including a 24 night maiden Black Sea cruise and a maiden 24 night Caribbean cruise. Oceana’s programme has continued to focus on our most popular destinations and for the first time she will offer two short cruise breaks over Christmas and New Year. For the first time Arcadia will sail a Black Sea cruise. Whilst, Ventura and Adonia will continue to offer a mixture of fly-cruises in the Caribbean (Ventura) and Mediterranean (Adonia) during the winter months. Ventura will be the only ship offering Caribbean fly cruises.

As well as enjoying the first full year of Adonia, the smallest ‘exclusively for adults’ ship, Oriana will also become dedicated to adults in 2012. She will enjoy a well deserved refurbishment, resulting in some new alternative restaurants, additional balcony cabins, and even some single cabins.

There are great savings to be made for those who book early (by 31st May 2011). Not only is there Early Booking Savings, with savings up to £1,500 per couple for a 35 night Caribbean cruise (based on A grade Suites) to take advantage of, but an additional 175th Anniversary Saving of 10%. Plus, there’s free car parking available on all cruises of 7 nights or more sailing roundtrip from Southampton, and if booking on a fly-cruise, on board spending money of between £40 and up to £420 per couple.

To pre register for any of the below voyages please contact me

Adonia

• D203 9^th April 2012 23 nights Eastern Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton Alicante Rhodes Limassol Port Said Alexandria Zakinthos Messina Salerno Valencia Cadiz Lisbon Southampton
• D204 2^nd May 2012 16 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton Lisbon Gibraltar Alghero Civitavecchia Portofino Sete Barcelona Port  Mahon Portimao Southampton
• D205 18^th May 2012 16 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Kiel Canal, Sassnitz, Kalmar, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg overnight, Klaipeda, Warnemunde, Copenhagen ,Kiel Canal, Southampton
• D206 3rd June2012 14 nights North Cape
  Southampton, Flamm, Alesund, Trondheim,  Honningsvaag, Tromso, Bodo Molde, Bergen, Stavanger, Southampton
• D207 17th June 2012 16 nights Western Mediterranean  - Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton Portimao Barcelona Sanary Sur Mer Livorno Propriano Civitavecchia Valencia Lisbon Southampton
• D208 3^rd July 2012 21 nights Central Mediterranean – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, La Coruna, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Venice Koper, Durres, Corfu, La Goulette, Malaga, Huelva, Southampton 
• D209 24^th July 2012 14 nights North Cape
  Southampton, Stavanger, Bodo, Alta, Honningsvaag, Hammerfest, Tromso, Lofoten Is, Bergen, Southampton
• D210 7^th August 2012 10 nights Round Britain
  Southampton, Dublin, Liverpool, Greenock, Belfast, Foynes, Cobh, Jersey, Southampton
• D211 17^th August 2012 7 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, Brest, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Honfleur, Southampton
• D212 24^th August 2012 7 nights Norway / Fjords
  Southampton, Kristiansand, Eidfjord, Flamm, Stavanger, Southampton  
• D213 31^st August 2012 16 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, La Coruna, Gibraltar, Alghero, Civitavecchia, Rapallo, Marseilles, Barcelona, Portimao, Lisbon, Southampton  
• D214 16^th September 2012 21 nights Central Mediterranean 
  Southampton, Huelva, La Goulette, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Venice, Hvar, Brindisi, Catania, Malaga, Portimao, Southampton  
• D215 7th October 2012 12 nights Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Southampton, Lisbon, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Venice, Trieste  
• D216 19th October 2012 14 nights Central Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Trieste, Venice, Pula, Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Antalya, Rhodes, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Mykonos, Piraeus  
• D217 2^nd November 2012 14 nights Central Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Piraeus, Mykonos, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Antalya, Heraklion, Dubrovnik, Ancona, Venice, Trieste  
• D218 16^th November 2012 14 nights Eastern Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Trieste, Kotor, Corfu, Haifa, Ashdod, Limassol, Port Said, Alexandria, Rhodes, Heraklion, Piraeus  
• D219 30^th November 2012 14 nights Eastern Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Piraeus, Heraklion, Haifa, Ashdod, Limassol, Port Said, Malta, Trapani, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Salerno  
• D220 14^th December 2012 9 nights Mediterranean Fly cruise
  Salerno, Palma, Valencia, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Southampton   
• D221 23^rd December 2012 16 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Madeira, La Coruna, Southampton  

Arcadia

• J202 27^th April 2012 13 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, Madeira, Cadiz, Southampton
• J203 10^th May 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean – Pen insular Cruise
  Southampton, Malaga, Kotor, Venice, Venice, Koper, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Gibraltar, Southampton
• J204 27^th May 2012 7 nights Norway/Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Olden, Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton
• J205 3^rd June 2012 13 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg overnight, Helsinki, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• J206 16^th June 2012 10 nights Round Britain
  Southampton, Queensferry – Edinburgh, Invergordon, Belfast, Liverpool, Dublin, Cobh, St Peter Port, Southampton
• J207 26^th June 2012 7 nights Norway/Fjords
  Southampton, Bergen, Flamm, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton
• J208 3^rd July 2012 14 nights Iceland – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, Dublin, Reykjavik, Isafjordur, Akureyri, Alesund, Geiranger, Bergen, Stavanger, Southampton
• J209 17^th July 2012 14 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Copenhagen, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Southampton
• J210 31^st July 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean – Peninsular Cruise
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Koper, Kotor, Malaga, Southampton
• J211 16^th August 2012 14 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Goteborg, Warnemunde, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Southampton
• J212 30^th August 2012 20 nights Black Sea
  Southampton, Cadiz, Piraeus, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Yalta, Odessa, Palma, Southampton
• J213 19^th September 2012 24 nights Canada and New England
  Southampton, New York, Newport RI, Boston, Portland ME, St John NB, Halifax, Quebec, Charlottown, Southampton
•  J214 13^th October 2012 13 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• J215 26^th October 2012 10 nights Altantic coast
  Southampton, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Oporto, Southampton
• J216 5^th November 2012 20 nights eastern Mediterranean – Peninsular Cruise 
  Southampton, Cadiz, Katakolon, Piraeus, Rhodes, Alexandria, Port Said, Cartagena, Oporto, Southampton
• J217 25^th November 2012 23 nights Caribbean (out of UK)
  Southampton, Madeira, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, Ponta Delgada, Southampton
• J218 18^th December 2012 18 nights Western Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Lisbon, Cadiz, Valencia, La Goulette, Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Southampton

Aurora

• R202 12^th April 2012 22 nights Caribbean
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Madeira
• R203 4^th May 2012 12 nights Baltic – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• R205 19^th May 2012 14 nights North Cape
  Southampton, Bergen, Olden, Andalsnes, Trondheim, Honningsvaag, Tromso, Alesund, Flamm, Stavanger, Southampton
• R206 2^nd June 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean – Music Festival at Sea
  Southampton, Valencia, Messina, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Cefalonia, Malta, Oporto, Southampton
• R207 19^th June 2012 14 nights Spitzbergen
  Southampton, Stavanger, Alesund, Trondheim, Ny Alesund, Tromso, Bergen, Eidfjord, Southampton
• R208 3^rd July 2012 17 nights Baltic – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, Goteborg, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg overnight, Tallinn, Riga, Oslo, Hamburg overnight, Southampton
• R209 20^th July 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Malaga, Zakinthos, Dubrovnik, Venice, Split, Corfu, Oporto, Southampton
• R210 5^th August 2012 12 nights Baltic
  Southampton ,Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg overnight, Helsinki, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• R21117th August 2012 7 nights Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Alesund, Olden, Bergen, Southampton
• R212 24^th August 2012 7 night Cruise Break
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, St Peter Port, Le Havre, Southampton
• R213 31^st August 2012 2 night Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• R214 2^nd September 2012 24 nights Canada & New England
  Southampton, New York overnigh,t Newport RI, Boston, Bar Harbor, St John NB, Halifax, Quebec overnight, Charlottown, Southampton
• R215 26^th September 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Oporto, Barcelona, Marseilles, Calvi, Civitavecchia, Alicante, Gibraltar, Southampton
• R217 13^th October 2012 2 nights Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• R218 15^th October 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Malaga, La Goulette, Heraklion, Kusadasi, Piraeus, Katakolon, Lisbon, Southampton
• R219 1^st November 2012 22 nights Caribbean – Music Festival at Sea
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Madeira, Southampton
• R220 23^rd November 2012 23 nights Eastern Mediterranean
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Piraeus, Izmir, Istanbul, Rhodes, Ashdod, Alexandria, Malta, Cadiz, Southampton
• R221 16th December 2012 22 nights Caribbean
  Southampton, Vigo, Madeira, Barbados, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, Ponta Delgada, Southampton

Azura

• A207 30^th March 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Cadiz, Cefalonia, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula, Corfu, Gibraltar, Southampton 
• A208 15^th April 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean – Peninsular club Cruise
  Southampton, Cadiz, Cartagena, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Villefranche, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Southampton   
• A209 29^th April 2012 7 nights Norway / Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Olden, Bergen, Southampton  
• A210 6^th May 2012 13 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Ajaccio, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Monte, Carlo, Barcelona, Southampton 
• A211 19^th May 2012 14 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Warnemunde, Zeebrugge, Southampton  
• A212 2^nd June 2012 7 nights Norway / Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Olden, Bergen, Southampton  
• A213 9^th June 2012 7 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, La Coruna, Bilbao, La Rochelle, St Peter Port, Southampton  
• A214 16^th June 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Katakolon, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula, Malaga, Southampton 
• A215 3^rd July 2012 11 nights Atlantic Islands – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, La Coruna, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Lisbon, Oporto, Southampton  
• A216 14^th July 2012 7 nights Norway / Fjords
  Southampton, Bergen, Andalsnes, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton  
• A217 21^st July 2012 7 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, La Coruna, Bilbao, La Rochelle, St Peter Port, Southampton  
• A218 28^th July 2012 13 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Ajaccio, Gibraltar, Southampton  
• A219 10^th August 2012 7 nights Norway / Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton  
• A220 17^th August 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Malaga, Korcula, Venice, Dubrovnik, Cefalonia, Messina, Palma, Southampton  
• A221 2^nd September 2012 13 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Cartagena, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Villefranche, Barcelona, Southampton  
• A222 15^th September 2012 3 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Southampton  
• A223 18^th September 2012 24 nights Black Sea – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Lisbon, Malta, Rhodes, Yalta, Odessa, Constanza, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Piraeus, Palma, Southampton  
• A224 12^th October 2012 24 nights Caribbean From Southampton
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Madeira, Southampton  
• A225 5^th November 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Alicante, Barcelona, Toulon, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Lisbon, Southampton  
• A226 19^th November 2012 13 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Cadiz, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton  
• A227 2^nd December 2012 2 nights Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton  
• A228 4^th December 2012 11 nights Atlantic Coast – Peninsular club Cruise
  Southampton, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Casablanca, Malaga, Cadiz, Vigo, Southampton  
• A229 15^th December 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lisbon, Southampton  
• A230 27^th December 2012 11 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Vigo, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Southampton

Oriana

• X202 10^TH APRIL 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Malaga, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Rijeka, Kotor, Gibraltar, Southampton
• X203 26^th April 2012 22 nights Caribbean – Music Festival at Sea
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Antigua, Tortola, St Kitts, St Lucia, Barbados, Madeira, Southampton
• X204 18^th May 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Olden, Bergen, Southampton
• X205 25^th May 2012 3 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Southampton
• X206 28^th May 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Horta, Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• X207 9^th June 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Bergen, Geiranger, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton
• X208 16^th June 2012 4 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, St Peter Port, Southampton
• X209 20^th June 2012 13 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg overnight, Helsinki, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• X210 3^rd July 2012 4 night Cruise Break – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, Amsterdam, overnight Zeebrugge, Southampton
• X2117th July 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Alesund , Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton
• X212 14^th July 2012 14 nights Spitzbergen – Peninsular club Cruise
  Southampton, Stavanger, Alesund ,Trondheim, Ny Alesund, Tromso, Bergen, Eidfjord, Southampton
• X213 28^th July 2012 7 nights Fjords
  Southampton, Bergen, Andalsnes, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton
• X214 4^th August 2012 14 nights Baltic – Music Festival at Sea
  Southampton, Goteborg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, overnight Tallinn, Klaipeda, Kristiansand, Southampton
• X215 18^th August 2012 14 nights Iceland – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Dublin, Reykjavik, Isafjordur, Akureyri, Alesund, Olden, Flamm, Stavanger, Southampton
• X216 1^st September 2012 14 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Kristiansand, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, overnight Tallinn, Klaipeda, Oslo, Southampton
• X217 15^th September 2012 10 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Oporto, Southampton
• X218 25^th September 2012 22 nights Caribbean
  Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Antigua, Tortola, St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Madeira, Southampton
• X219 17^th October 2012 30 nights Eastern Mediterranean
  Southampton, Cadiz, Messina, Port Said, Suez Canal, Aqaba, Sharm el sheikh, Safaga, Suez, Limassol, Haifa, Rhodes, Istanbul, Piraeus, Katakolon, Malaga, Southampton
• X220 16^th November 2012 18 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Lisbon, Valencia, Palma, Casablanca, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Madeira, Cadiz, Southampton
• X221 4^th December 2012 10 nights Baltic
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg, Southampton
• X222 14^th December 2012 24 nights Christmas Eastern Mediterranean
  Southampton, Oporto, Malaga, Malta, Limassol, Ashdod, Port Said, Piraeus, Katakolon, Messina, Cadiz, Lisbon, Southampton
• X301 6^th January 2013 24 nights Eastern Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Cadiz, Malta, Alexandria, Port Said, Limassol, Haifa, Ashdod, Kusadasi, Piraeus, Katakolon, Messina, Valencia, Lisbon, Southampton
• X302 30^th January 2013 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Lisbon, Casablanca, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Madeira, Southampton
• X303 11^th February 2013 Caribbean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Madeira, St Lucia, St Kitts, Tortola, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, New Orleans, New Orleans, Key West, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, Charleston, Ponta Delgada, Southampton

Oceana

• E205 4^th April 2012 11 nights Atlantic Isles
  Southampton, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• E206 15^th April 2012 9 nights Atlantic Coasts
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E207 24^th April 2012 12 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Cannes, Livorno, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E208 6^th May 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Bergen, Andalsnes, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton
• E209 13^th May 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton Madeira Tenerife Gran Canaria Cadiz Lisbon Oporto Southampton
• E210 25^th May 2012 9 nights Atlantic Coasts
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Casablanca, Cadiz, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• E211 3^rd June 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Cannes, Civitavecchia, Naples, Malta, La Goulette,  Oporto, Southampton
• E212 17^th June 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton
• E213 24^th June 2012 9 nights Atlantic Coast
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E214 3^rd July 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, Bergen, Olden, Geiranger, Stavanger, Southampton 
• E215 10^th July 2012 12 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Ajaccio, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E216 22^nd July 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• E217 3^rd August 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Olden, Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton
• E218 10^th August 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Santa Margherita, Civitavecchia, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E219 24^th August 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Amsterdam overnight, Bergen, Geiranger, Olden, Stavanger, Southampton
• E220 2^nd September 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• E221 14^th September 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Cannes, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Palma, Alicante, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E222 28^th September 2012 2 night Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• E223 30^th September 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Kotor,  Hvar, Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Oporto, Southampton
• E224 17^th October 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Cadiz, Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Alicante, Gibraltar, Southampton
• E225 31^st October 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, La Coruna, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Cadiz, Lisbon, Southampton
• E226 12^th November 2012 10 nights Atlantic Coast
  Southampton, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Oporto, Southampton
• E227 8^th December 2012 2 night Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• E228 10^th December 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• E229 22^nd December 2012 7 nights Christmas Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Goteborg, Southampton
• E230 29^th December 2012 4 nights New Year Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Amsterdam overnight, Southampton
• E301 2^nd January 2013 35 nights Caribbean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Madeira, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Aruba, Panama Canal, Roatan, Cozumel, Montego Bay, Tortola, St Maarten, Ponta Delgada, Southampton
• E302 6^th February 2013 24 nights Eastern Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Cadiz, Malta, Alexandria, Port Said, Limassol, Ashdod, Haifa, Piraeus, Katakolon, Messina, Valencia, Lisbon, Southampton
• E303 2^nd March 2013 14 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, Casablanca, Cadiz, Lisbon, Southampton
• E304 16^th March 2013 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Barcelona, Cannes, Civitavecchia, Naples, Palma, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Southampton 

Ventura

• N206 23^rd March 2012 2 night Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• N207 25^th March 2012 7 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, La Coruna, Bilbao, La Rochelle, Le Havre, Southampton
• N208  1^st April 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Cadiz, Southampton
• N209 15^th April 2012 11 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Vigo, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Oporto, Southampton
• N210 26^th April 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Malaga, Corfu, Korcula, Venice, Dubrovnik, Messina, Cadiz, Lisbon, Southampton
• N211 13^th May 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Skjolden, Geiranger, Bergen, Southampton
• N212 20^th May 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Cadiz, Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Alicante, Gibraltar, Southampton
• N213 3^rd June 2012 14 nights Iceland – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Dublin, Reykjavik, Akureyri, Alesund, Olden, Bergen, Stavanger, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• N214 17^th June 2012 13 nights Western Mediterranean
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Cartagena, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Southampton
• N215 30^th June 2012 3 nights Cruise Break
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Southampton 
• N216 3^rd July 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean – Grand Event Cruise
  Southampton, Malaga, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Split, Palma, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• N217 20^th July 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton, Stavanger, Flamm, Olden, Bergen, Southampton
• N218 27^th July 2012 16 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Oporto, Cefalonia, Dubrovnik, Venice, Split, Corfu, Gibraltar, Southampton
• N219 12^th august 2012 9 nights Atlantic Coast
  Southampton, Gibraltar, Casablanca, Cadiz, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton
• N220 21^st August 2012 11 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Oporto, Southampton
• N221 1^st September 2012 7 nights Norwegian Fjords
  Southampton Stavanger Skjolden Geiranger Bergen Southampton
• N222 8^th September 2012 17 nights Central Mediterranean
  Southampton, Valencia, Messina, Cefalonia, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula, Corfu, Gibraltar, Southampton
• N223 25^th September 2012 10 nights Atlantic Coast
  Southampton, Lisbon, Cadiz, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Oporto, Southampton
• N224 5^th October 2012 14 nights Western Mediterranean – Peninsular Club Cruise
  Southampton, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Elba, Civitavecchia, Naples, Alicante, Gibraltar, Southampton
• N225 19^th October 2012 2 nights Party Cruise
  Southampton, Zeebrugge, Southampton
• N226 21^st October 2012 12 nights Atlantic Islands
  Southampton, Vigo, Lisbon, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Madeira, Southampton
• N227 2^nd November 2012 14 nights Caribbean Transatlantic
  Southampton, Madeira, Tortola, Antigua, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados
• N227A 2^nd November 2012 21 nights Caribbean Transatlantic
  Southampton, Madeira, Tortola, Antigua, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N228 16^th November 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Barbados  
• N228A 23^rd November 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N229 30^th November 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N229A 7^th December 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N230 14^th December 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N230A 21^st December 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N231 28^th December 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N231A 4^th January 2012 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N301 11^th January 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N301A 18^th January 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N302 25^th January 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N302A 1^st February 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N303 8^th February 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, , Barbados  
• N303A 15^th February 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados  
• N304 22^nd February 2013 14 nights Caribbean Eastern
  Barbados, St Kitts, Tortola, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados  
• N304A 1st March 2013 21 nights Caribbean Transatlantic
  Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, Madeira, Southampton  
• N305 8^th March 2013 15 nights Caribbean Transatlantic
  Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, Madeira, Southampton

To pre register for any of the above voyages please contact me

P&O 2012 cruises will go on sale on Saturday 2nd April for Gold Tier members only from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

P&O have announced a new 3 night cruise onboard Aurora departing 23^rd September 2009.

Aurora will depart Southampton on 23^rd September and call at Zeebrugge and Le Havre, returning back into Southampton on Saturday 26^th September 2009.

Derren Brown, the widely renowned psychological illusionist will be onboard as the special guest entertainer for this new cruise.

The cruise goes on sale on Friday 12^th June and with prices from only £189, demand is expected to be high.

If you would like further information and prices or would like to pre register to confirm a booking as soon as cabins go on sale – Contact me NOW!

Email janechadwick@gocruise.co.uk or call 02476 742135

Looking for the P&O 2012-2013 Brochure Launch? Click here

P&O Brochure 2011 – 2012

Click to Visit The P&O 2011 Brochure Launch Centre

The P&O Brochure for 2011 and 2012 Cruises has been launched to read all about them visit the go cruise with jane P&O Brochure Launch Centre

P&O Brochure for 2010

click for the P&O 2010 Brochure Launch Centre

P&O’s 2010 Brochure has now been launched and you can read all about where the ships are going and more here or by clicking the picture above

Wednesday 10th December 2008 ~ Southampton

5 minutes to 12 and guess who was first to step onboard Aurora’s Winter Wonderland cruise? Yes a combination of being two types of priority embarkation plus needing wheelchair assistance for Mr C worked a treat and we found ourselves being whisked through the crew security check and straight onboard. The champagne was lined up waiting for us in the Crows Nest and we were soon settled back in. Champagne and bucks Fizz flowed and the sandwiches looked impressive if nothing else. I did miss the soggy crisps though!

At 2.00pm the cabins were announced as ready but the effort of making our way to the Vectis Suite was too much for me and I just wanted to stay there. Maybe just one more drink? I did eventually pull myself out of the chair and gathered the bags to make our way to our new home for the next 10 days. Oh it is lush in here, and oh so much room. Will I ever have a standard cabin again I ask myself? The cases are here already, must be those gold tags that helped them. Suddenly I started to regret packing 7 cases. Good job there was plenty of storage place to put it all away. Lizy decorated the cabin and put the Christmas tree up, so its officially Christmas now.

We went down to Promenade deck for Sailaway in the hope that we would find some mulled wine, but only Champagne was on offer and I think we have had enough of that for one day. So we headed upto Crows instead and watched us sail down the solent.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons. No Geoff though, which is strange after all these years. Cosmopolitans are just as good though.

Table 50, second sitting in the Medina is our table for the next 10 nights and we are soon settled in with a couple of bottles of wine on order. The meal and service is very good and we all leave full and contented.

The usual ‘meet the officers’ was on but it seems we had the same thought as everyone else as it was really busy. We did manage to find a sofa around the corner though in what used to be the smoking area

Thursday 11th December ~ at sea

Clocks went forward an hour last night so it took a while to work out if we had put the clocks forward or not before we got in bed. I think we worked out it was 20 to 6 ships time so I felt obliged to lie there for a little while longer and try and go back to sleep. But it wasn’t happening. I knew I had work to do and I knew I had to get to the other end of the ship for a wifi connection, so it was time to get up and put my work head on. After an hour or so’s work in the library I was ready for some breakfast. We decided on breakfast in the Medina and had a nice table for 2 by the window. Nice pot of tea, fruit n fibre and some bacon egg and baked beans, oh and some toast of course. What a lovely civilised way to start the day. So what to do next? Well a nice Baileys coffee in Raffles went down rather nicely. We sat there for a while and watched people come and go and then decided to go to Crows Nest for a drink. Nice to see Al behind the bar so had a quick chat with him. Oh I love my days at sea, just taking it easy and doing as little as possible. There were big decisions about where to have lunch and we decided on Café B, but I think Marco Pierre Whites talk this morning had encouraged them all in and it was rather busy even at 2.00pm.so we ended up in the Orangery. Me and Amanda went to the craft class to make some Christmas crackers but we couldn’t fit in the room so we gave it a miss and somehow ended up in Champions drinking Kir Royal. Well we are on holiday. The Jacuzzi and my big bed are calling me, but which should I do first? Oh decisions decisions!

Captains Cocktail party in the Crows Nest but poor old Mr C was worn out by the time he had hopped all the way up there. We took the fast track route in, as lovely as Captain Hutley is we really didn’t need a photo and we like Peter Thomas the exec purser so we went through his door. Drinks were flowing thick and fast, sometimes too fast and we were struggling to hold them all at one point.

We have the most charming and witty officer hosting our table. Apparently we are lucky as not any officers are hosting tables this cruise, or is it a case of Martin being unlucky to be hand picked by myself as the best man for the job! Nobody can say we re a quiet table and the laughter was flowing thick and fast, just like the wine and the food. Why did I feel the need to have every course tonight, and then we still fight over the after dinner mints, like we have never been fed. We were about the last to leave the restaurant. There was a dance in Carmens but we headed for a sofa in Andersons. I had a signature Cosmopolitan which about blew my head off. I think someone offered to rescue martin at one point but I think they realised he was probably having more of a giggle than they were. Martin had to depart anyway for his bed and to get his thermals ready for the early hours as he was our lookout on the fore deck as we sail up the river Elbe. Do they have icebergs up the river Elbe? But the night was still young for us so we hit Masquarades. I think they were about ready to close but we put paid to that. Lizy decided that me and her Auntie Amanda needed to learn the Cotton Eyed Joe! Maybe not such a good idea after our alcohol intake, but we weren’t given a choice and ive no idea how well we did. Oooh and I remember having a dance with Uncle Mick but what dance that was I have no idea. Time to check out Café B, but shock horror the croquet Mossieur have been taken off the menu. Other things looked not very appropriate for silly o’clock in the morning so he agreed to make us some chip butties! Don’t you just love P&O crew who go that extra mile. So hot chocolate and chip butties all round and they went down a treat. Lizzy missed out because she found someone to talk to in the nightclub.

Friday 12th December 2008 ~ Hamburg

I woke up this morning feeling none too clever but decided that it is way too far to the fridge to get some water (really you haven’t seen the size of our cabin this time!) I could see the shore side of Hamburg passing by the balcony through the small gap in the curtains but then I could hear a jazz band so had to get up as I was intrigued. I opened the balcony door and there was a jazz band full of Santas dancing about on the dockside. Ooh dear I was drinking some strong stuff last night!

I went up to Crows to sit and do some work, and the singles gathering seemed to take place around me, the very nice host got me some coffee though while I was working and I needed it because it was very chilly up there.

The logistics of trying to get ashore was a little trying. I layered myself up but by the time I had pushed Mr C and the wheelchair down to deck 7 I was rather warm. The shuttle bus was waiting for us and we were soon into town. A lot of building work was happening in the dock area and the new cruise terminal was taking shape in the place where they normally have the fair to welcome QM2. it would seem that Aurora doesn’t draw the crowds like QM2 does. The shuttle bus dropped us at the top end of town and not down by the main square like the QM2 bus does. It was late morning and the town was crowded with shoppers. I think part of the reason for dropping us so far up the town could have been so that we had to pass 80% of the Christmas markets. There were quite a few off the main street., but eventually we got to the one down by the main square. Very very busy indeed, and very hard work with a wheelchair.

We went to our usual café by the lake and had some mulled wine and only lizy needed feeding so she had a Hamburger in Hamburg which she found amusing! We decided to walk to the other side of town to yet another Christmas market, so naturally more mulled wine was involved. The air was getting pretty biting by now so we had a shot of rum in it too. Back across town and back at the main square. It was way to busy to walk through so we stopped off at a little bar just off the main square and whilst they had brockenhurst and chips with mayo I just felt the need to check out the mulled wine again, with rum. It was the best one of the day. We trecked back up the main street through the crowds and straight onto a shuttle bus. Soon back to the ship, but I then spent the next 20 minutes putting away all the layers of warm clothing. Must surely be time for a drink, so upto Crows with the laptop just in case there was work to be done, and that of course involved another drink.

5.30 and time for a little snooze in my big bed. Bliss! Then I hear first sitting dinner being announced and I know that’s my queue to get out of bed and in the shower, but oh the effort involved. Had a bit of a crisis this evening choosing a casual outfit. It would seem that I had planned my formals and semi formals, my outdoor wear, my daytime ship wear but casual seems to have been forgotten. Of course I managed though.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons and the nibbles have been found! Hooray. Trouble is you cant get them out of the jars because they are too big. Not to worry they were bringing round smoked salmon hor deurves. The restaurant was not very busy this evening so service as very slick. We decided to go to 60’s & 70’s in Carmens which started at 10. what we didn’t realise was that the 60’s n 70’s quiz would start at dead on 10, and by the time we got in there at just gone 5 past they were already on question 8.

I surprised the hell out of the lovely Paul Carrington as he had no idea I was onboard. Oh I wish he was cruise director because I heard only good things about his stint as CD at the end of the summer. I know he will get there permanently eventually because he is such a star! I was there on his first cruise when he was just a baby ents all those years ago, and he is going to be the new generation of CD. There was some interesting dancing and very interesting interpretations of casual dress code around this evening but hey they are on holiday. I fully intended going to bed and having a nice sleep but it never really happened. We were last out of Carmens and last out of Café B.

Saturday 13th December ~ departure from Hamburg and day at sea

We sailed from Hamburg at around 7.00am I think? Not that I was awake. And we disembarked our river pilot at around 10.30 and embarked the sea pilot at the same time. We saw the entrance to the Keil Canal which we cant fit down, and we weren’t going that way anyway.

A very lazy morning in bed. Lizy has a can of pop and some malteesers sat up in her huge bed watching a film. Mr C is cranking his neck to try and watch the same film from his bed, and im here typing away and pottering. I have just put the 3 Christmas ducks in the bath that I bought yesterday and when I am dressed Im going to pop down to the Christmas Market in Carmens. Im loving this cabin, its just like home. Im seeing the advantage now of upgrading to the higher end accommodation.  So much room! Plenty of space to store everything that I insist on bringing away with me. All the little extras that go with the higher grade cabins well worth the money. I told you that Silversea experience ruined me earlier in the year! It’s a pleasure to wake up with such lovely surroundings. I see in the daily news that there is a second class to complete the Christmas cracker they started two days ago? How long does it take to make a Christmas cracker?

Well I did eventually get dressed and we nipped down to the Christmas Market. It was very good and they created a really good atmosphere in there. We had mulled wine and warm mince pie for breakfast, I won a formal portrait photo in the raffle and I bought a few bottles of spirit that were on offer.

We had a very relaxed lunch in MPW Café Bordeaux. The Chicken and mushroom soup was very good and so was the salmon fishcake. We washed it down with a bottle of Beringer which left me wondering if it was time for bed again yet? Somehow I found my second wind and found enough energy to stomp around prom deck six times. There is a very cutting wind blowing across the open deck and it was braising to say the least, but I can say I have had my exercise for the day.

I tried to have a bit of a snooze but it never really happened so I opted to have a Jacuzzi with my new Christmas ducks, but they don’t swim!

Formal night this evening and I admit to feeling a little light headed by the time we got to dinner. I think the appletini and the melontini might have contributed to that. We had a bow tie tying masterclass at the table led by a certain officer. As usual we are one of the last to leave after another delightful meal. Ive heard very mixed reviews about the food prior to this cruise, but honestly you have nothing to worry about the food is as good as it always has been, if not better.

There was a ladies night ball in Carmens and Doris Day tribute in the theatre. We didn’t venture near to Carmens but oh dear Doris Day was not holding an audience. We settled into a sofa in Andersons and drank our way into tomorrow. Of course we had to stop by Café B for a chip butty and hot chocolate. I tried a cookie this evening, but they were like the muffins the night before, chocolate less!

Sunday 14th December 2008 ~ Oslo

Mr C is on Fjord watch this morning. Breakfast arrives at 8.30am and I managed a cup of tea and breakfast later when I was ready. We went into the narrow part of the fjord at 10.30 and Mr C was in his element wrapped up on the balcony with his camera. Amanda and Mick popped in and I provided hot chocolate with rum to keep them warm. The scenery was breathtaking. We really were sailing in a Winter Wonderland! The Fjord was covered in snow and we were just moving fast enough to break a ripple in the sea. It really is ‘Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!’

We wrapped up in as many layers as we could muster and went to the sail in party up by Pennant Bar. There was something pretty magical about berthing in Olso next to a big castle with snow on the ground while Winter Wonderland was playing. We had mulled wine to keep us warm, and whilst it was a complete contrast to a steel band and a rum punch in the hot Caribbean sun it was amazing. We docked starboard side too today, as apposed to starboard side one lol.

As we were all wrapped up we decided it was a good day for a sidewalk café lunch, so it was fish chips and mushy peas for me.

It was only a short walk into town. There was a small Christmas market at the end of the dock. To the left was a very trendy bar and shopping area and many of the shops were open, but not many bars. We then walked back and to the right up into the town and found the ice skating ring in the main square with Hard Rock Café and other bars surrounding it. We then went on a bit of a route march up a hill, which was great until we realised we needed to get Mr C and the wheelchair back down again! We parked the boys in a beer tent back in the Christmas market while we went and did a bit of retail therapy. Boys were not impressed with their £8 beer though!

Back onboard there was a Norwegian choir in Carmens but you couldn’t get near it. I would have liked to have seen it and those that did said it was very good.

Im cold and tired so went and crawled into bed for an hour, but there is no chance of being allowed to close my eyes. We left Oslo at about 5.00pm but it felt much later because it had been dark since 3. The castle looked lovely as we pulled away and the lights of the harbour reminded me of Sydney or the like.

Big night out tonight and  I hosted a table of 12  in the Captains Lounge this evening which was a great way to sample the new Marco Pierre White menu and celebrate my recent award of ‘Sales Agent of the Year’.

How many champagne buckets were lining the entrance, we will never drink all that? Will we? There are 3 different menu’s and today was menu number 2. I had the asparagus which was very good, lots tried the frogs legs and I had a nibble but decided they tasted of nothing.. Broccoli soup which sounded like something your granny would make you eat, but was actually very nice indeed. I then had beef Burginion with crusty pastry top. It was delisious but would have fed two quite substantionally. I just couldn’t get through it and I don’t think anyone else did either. Mr C had a seafood platter which I didn’t think looked that impressive but he assures me it was. Others had pork belly which got excellent reviews, steak and duck. Oh the strawberry shortcake was to die for and could eat again despite being totally full. I was surprised afterwards by the spice boys and a ‘congratulations’ cake, but I dont think they understood what they were congratulating – but then I guess not all award winning agents sell and cruise with them? After dinner entertainment comprised of the second masterclass in bow tying and as much laughter as we could muster. We got some very strange looks when we came trooping out of there gone midnight whilst others were tucking into their horlicks. We were going to hit masquerades but decided a comfy sit down in Andersons was what was needed.

So MPW at Café B was I impressed? Yes I was actually. Service was as spot on as it always has been. I don’t quite get why they have reduced the cover charge from what café b used to be? If I had one comment it would have to be the table wear? It just doesn’t fit the style of café B. those lovely big server plates have disappeared and very contempory plain white tableware in its place. The plain white fine bone china is very nice but it just doesn’t say anything, and who ever picked the dreadful flowery pattern desert wear needs shooting. It reminds me of something out of the BHS sale! It just didnt fit with anything, but anyway that’s just my thought and I know ‘some of you’ like to know my opinion! I like the new décor in Captains Lounge, but cant really see why someone felt the need to change it? The various plaques etc were good conversation pieces before. Ooh talking of conversations… ‘Tea Coffee and Conversations’ were served at the end of the meal. Conversation pieces they certainly were! I thought they were mince pies but no, they were most definitely ‘conversations’ ok if you like pastry, but good if you like a conversation! See you all want to try MPW Café B now for the ‘conversations’

Monday 15th December 2008 ~ Copenhagen

I think someone moved the bow thrusters up to deck 10 aft this morning! What bit of our suite didn’t move and shake this morning? No chance of a lie in then. Personally I think it was the revenge of the port side people. But port side should be happy today because we went Portside too for the first time this cruise. They had a Umpah band to play to them but I noticed the portsiders didn’t get out to see them as much as we on the starboard side would have done! I went upto Crows to do my work but it was freezing up there. The singles get together also seemed to happen around me again despite me changing location. Jo the cabin steward is twiddling his fingers this morning as he is struggling to find a vacant cabin to attend too. We decided to do not a lot today, a because I Have Aurora flu and because its hard work wih Mr C on crutches or in the wheelchair. We did a brief visit to the outlet shops that lined the dock and then walked up to find the Little Mermaid.

For those of you that don’t know where the little mermaid is she is about 10 minutes walk away to the left as you disembark the ship, past a tiny harbour and there she is. If you carry on the same path for about 30 minutes you arrive at the Palace for changing of the guard and then into town. Or you can pick up the no 26 bus for DK. We just had a very lazy day on the ship before heading off into town at 4.30 to be at the Ice Bar for 5.00pm. we went via taxi for DK180 and at least we were door to door. Ice Bar was cool! Entrance fee was approx £17 and included thermal cape, gloves and a cocktail in an ice glass. It was empty when we first went in because we had pre booked but it soon filled up. I think I left my gloves off a little too long because my hands refused to warm up again. But when we stepped outside it felt really mild! The entrance to Tivolli Gardens was just over the road so that was our next port of call. Entrance fee was about £10 each but if you had a wheelchair it was Free! Mr C was in his element with his camera taking his photos but there is nothing worst than being out on a cold dark night when your not feeling well like poor old me. It wasn’t long before we were back in a taxi and back on the ship. We could have gone to dinner in the restaurant but didn’t like the look of the menu, it was best of British Buffet in the Orangery but didn’t fancy that too much either so we had a vast selection of room service and got ready at leisure. Lizy had an early night in bed watching TV and we ended up in Crows listening to the Celieh band. Most enjoayable.

Tuesday 16th December 2008 ~ Copenhagen

Ooh dear Im proper poorly person now and I cant get out of bed. Life was such and effort today so between us we did nothing. Entertainment came in the form of 3 engineers trying to encourage the sofa bed to fold back up again, and then when they did get it to fold back in again it refused t come back out again. I thought the 3 blokes were going to throw it overboard. Its sort of fixed now but its 50/50 if it continues to work.

We had a fantastic sailaway with the girls marching band down on the dockside for an hour before sailaway. They were absolutely excellent and looked superb dressed up in the Christmas outfits. We had a stowaway Santa and he was being chased around prom deck. As we slipped our lines and blew the horn across Copenhagen there was a brilliant firework display over on port side so lots of activity as we sailed for Amsterdam.

We had invites to the Captain and Executive Pursers party this evening and what a superb party it was too. We had mulled wine and mince pies, as well as all the usual champagne, drinks and lots of canapés. I thought it was nice to get a bit of fresh air under the Crystal Dome, ok it was chilly at times but it was great for me to be out of the air conditioning. I felt like a bit of a mini celeb at times as just about anyone with stripes came over to speak to us, and it appears that most know about my recent award, thanks to a press release. Needless to say we made a late entrance to dinner and obviously a late exit followed. But as parties go it was one of the best!

There was all sorts of things happening over the ship tonight, starting with a Christmas Extravaganza in Carmens which kicked off with a Queen tribute at about 7.30 and finished with all sorts of TV game shows. It was like they had had to fit 3 nights worth of entertainment into one room in one night. Peter Goodwin was in the Theatre and I hear he didn’t have the biggest of audiences. The Caleih band were in Champions and that was rammed. So we went to our sofa in the lounge that is Andersons!

Wednesday 17th December 2008 ~ at sea

Gosh have we been here a week already? I had no choice but to get out of bed this morning and go do some work, so I crept out and left Mr C and Lizy sleeping.

My office at sea is working quite well. I get my usual sofa in the Crows by a plug socket and the really nice barman sends my coffee over. I managed to avoid the singles get together this morning but was rather insulted when some lady interrogated me to see if I was anything to do with ‘fatbusters’ or something of the like. She seemed quite put out when I informed her I had no idea what or where that was. Anyway you have guessed it, 10 minutes later I was in the middle of a ‘how to burn fat class’

I worked for a couple of hours and then realised it was only 20 mins until Gold Portunus lunch in Alexandria Restaurant. Quick change and we had joined the queue going back through Champions. We were on table 29 right at the back and I was placed next to El Capitain!

As much as people moan about it always being a lunch for our ‘special event’ I have to say that the food is always a step up. Presentation and food was superb, and it was a very enjoyable occasion once again.

We somehow found ourselves in the progressive quiz in Champions after lunch, but I had other things to do like sorting out party invites for the GoCruise with Jane cocktail party, so while they racked their brains for answers to quiz questions I sat and wrote all of my party invites and then trotted off and delivered them, so that killed two birds with one stone and gave me a bit of exercise too. Back at the cabin I decided that I really needed to do a bit of packing as the end of the cruise was approaching with two busy port days. So while lizy sat and watched yet another film and Mr C crawled under the duvet, I packed as much as I could, and then neatly arranged the cases back underneath the bed.
The canapes arrived, which is usually at 5.30 on the dot so I realised that time was ticking on, but I carried on packing, then treated myself to a nice bubbly Jacuzzi. I lay on the bed thinking it must be at least 7.00pm and I needed to get a move on, but was informed that it was only 10 to 6. What time did those prawns arrive then, that will teach me to look at a clock. I tried to have a snooze but it wasn’t happening so it was hair and makeup time. Another beauty of having such a large cabin is that me and Lizy can get ready at the same time, now that’s unheard of in a standard cabin where a strict rota for mirror time has to be worked out.. We have plenty of mirror space for makeup and plug sockets a plenty for hairdryers. But oh dear I put my black n white dress on and its too big! Yes, shouldn’t that be too small at this point in the cruise? No choice but to wear it and remember not to lean forward.

Portunus party in Carmens. Of course we chose the fast route in via Peter Pursers door but the Captain was not impressed that we didn’t queue to go through his door. LOL, I’d not long had my lunch with him, so he must have known that I couldn’t give up a drink or three by waiting to say hello to him again. We didn’t win the goblets, not that we needed any. But as always the drinks were flowing fast and a good cocktail party is always measured on the availability of drinks and the socialising of the ships company – high scores on both.

Chain de Rositeur dinner this evening, but I was struggling to find a main course fancied. I had had lovely beef at lunch so didn’t really want beef Wellington at dinner too. I opted for the poached salmon which is always available but that turned out to be a mistake as it was dry and bland.

The Captain was supposed to be leading carols in the restaurant tonight, and he was there but I wouldn’t say he was leading, more blending into the background behind the theatre company, and not loo9king terribly comfortable with the situation. We were treated to 4 carols ending with ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ so that made us all very Christmassy.

I fancied going to the black n white ball but that’s a no no with Mr C on crutches. Others fancied seeing Gary Lovinni in the theatre so we use Andersons as a half way house. People keep mistaking Dave for Gary Lovinni but we don’t really know why? He keeps popping back to the theatre to brush up on his violin skills.

We had quite late night in Andersons and saw off most of the other passengers and bar staff were cleaning down, then somehow Mr C and Dave had conspired another drink in Champions, allegedly to watch the news! Dave made the mistake of asking the bartender what a Niolly Pratt was (as in Vodka Martini) but she blinded me with science and I was the most sober out of the group.

Couldn’t go to bed without a visit to Café B. Mr C had jalapeno peppers, ham and cheese toasties and fries plus his horlicks! I just ordered hot chocolate but the waiter warned me I wouldn’t like it as the brand had changed, and he was right it was disgusting. But he had a stash of the old stuff tucked away and he made me a nice cup, bless him.

I have no idea what time I crawled into bed but I just couldn’t sleep. My throat was tickling and I just kept coughing. Lizy was out of bed watching our approach to Amsterdam and at 5 in the morning me and her are stood on the balcony getting very excited about being in a lock. There was one other man sticking his head out on a C deck balcony but he didn’t want to wave. There is something exciting about being in a lock in a big ship that really doesn’t look like it will fit. I guess Martyn was standing out on the for deck again watching our every move?

Excitement over and I got back into bed and managed about and hour and halfs sleep! Hooray!

Thursday 18th December 2008 ~ Amsterdam

Oh what a grey miserable morning. No shuttle bus today either, but there was the tram just outside the terminal building so will decide what to do later. First I have to get to my office, which this cruise has been the Crows Nest, not very convenient as that’s at one end of the ship and I live at the other. I have really missed not having internet access in my cabin this time. Still the coffee is good! We finally got ashore mid morning and decided that it was easier to push Mr C in his wheelchair than try to negotiate trains or trams or whatever they were. Amsterdam is a very busy place and it was hard to know which way to look with trains, trams, cars, buses and cycles coming at you from all directions. It wasn’t a particularly wheelchair friendly place either and we did have one scarey moment when the front wheel of the wheelchair got lodged in a tram track just as a tram came around the corner, but luckily the tram stopped for us. Ive been to Amsterdam a few times, and it was Lizy’s first visit here, but she wasn’t impressed and I have never been a lover of the place. Its pretty enough in spring along the canals etc and for the bulb fields, but the town centre isn’t the most inviting place. We did take a very brief walk along the red light district, but some of the sights left a lot to be desired!

It was an early return to the ship for us and a nice leisurely afternoon doing not a lot! I did manage to do a fair bit of packing though and get all the cases back under the bed out of the way.

I had arranged a pre dinner drinks party for GoCruise guests in our suite this evening, so we had to be ready early and have a quick tidy around. Guests were spot ontime and it wasn’t long before the drinks were flowing and the canapés were being passed around. The little sausages were a big hit as usual. Disappointing that Martyn couldn’t attend in the end, but someone inconveniently  arranged for us to be going through the locks at the same time so Martyn had to go and stand on the flippy out bits at the front (that I’ve forgotten the name for) and stand watch to make sure we didn’t hit the sides. It is a bit of a tight squeeze into that lock. Anyway it was very nice of the bridge team to lay on some entertainment for our guests and the balcony was big enough to accommodate all that wanted to watch the lock activities. Really pleased that Paul Carringtom found time in his busy schedule to pop along though and nice to catch up.

Amanda was giving guided tours of the bathroom, and the phone by the loo was causing great interest. Initially when I set this gathering up I was worried that an hour would be too long, but we could have done with 2 hours. We were very late for dinner and I had to apologise for all. I dont think he was too cross with us though. Im pretty sure that the evening must have ended in Andersons on a sofa? Yes, its coming back to me now. We did end up in Andersons and Mr C was given a late pass to stay out with his ‘Uncle Arthur’. I wasn’t best pleased when he came back to the cabin and fell over his crutches and then got into bed and put the TV on very loudly, Men!!

Friday 19th December 2008 ~ Bruges

Oh you know you have arrived in Bruges when you open your curtains and there are several hundred yellow JCB’s on the dockside! I can here a band playing and as I look over to the other dock there is a military ship coming into dock with a marching band marching along the dock to meet her.

We had decided to go into Bruges on the train this morning and were on the shuttle bus in plenty of time to get us to the train station in good time. Trains leave at 10 past the hour and it was about half past when we got off the shuttle bus. But then I spotted a 7 seater taxi and knew that there was a party of 4 just behind us who were also going into Bruges. I had always thought that the taxi drivers worked on a set price into Bruges of €35, but this one said it was on a meter and would be around €45. The other 4 agreed to share and it was easier all round as the taxi was able to drop us right in the main square. Because of the cobbled streets Mr C had decided that he would manage on his crutches today (loosely translates to ‘manage to get to a bar for some beer’) and the walk from train station to the square would have been too much. The others thought sharing a taxi with ‘GoCruisewithJane’ was a benefit because I was able to tell them the best chocolatier to go to, and where all the various must see’s were etc, LOL. Although the train would have only cost around €5 each return we decided that this was much more convenient and we arranged to meet back at 2.30 to share a taxi back. I have never seen Bruges so quiet in the pre Christmas week. Maybe it was something to do with it being a week day and I have always been here on a Saturday? We were in the town just before 11 and the Christmas market was only just opening up. It was nice to be able to get around and see things for once though. It was a lovely bright crisp sunny morning so we decided to take a horse and carriage ride again and show Lizy what a pretty place Bruges is. Cost is €34 for about 40 minutes. We were biting our lip not top chuckle at our driver who insisted on giving us a fully guided tour. Im sure he was full of useful information, but just like the last one on our last visit here, we couldn’t here a word he was saying apart from the occasional ‘17th Century …’ in a very strange accent. We were beginning to think that everything happened in the 17th century in Bruges, and I think there are 17 churches in Bruges? but towards the end we picked up both the 14th and 18th century, so we decided to put the numbers on the lottery when we got back. When they say it’s a 40 minute tour what they actually mean is that its about 15 minutes each way to a little square by the priory where they take you to let the horse have a feed, but its still worth the money and it’s a great way to see the sights clip clopping around the town. We passed a place that declared it served the best hot chocolate in town, but trouble was we had gone around that many twists and turns that I have no idea where it was.

Once back in the main square we headed for the Dumon chocolate shop before it got busy. I love it in here and she is so accommodating and lets you try before you buy. She had some new white caramel creams so that was Lizy sorted.  We got everything we went in for and of course my chocolate stirrers to make hot chocolate and we got two bags full of chocolate and a fair sized bill at the end of our visit. You have to try Dumon chocolate for yourself to understand what I am talking about here. There are many chocolate shops in Bruges but the quality of the chocolate stocked here really stands out and is worth the money. If anyone wants to know where it is drop me a line and I will let you know. We parked Mr C  in a bar infront of a roaring log fire and told him we would see him in an hour. I thought we were going for a look around the shops, but my fit and active young daughter had other ideas! She had her eye on a spot of climbing, quite a lot of climbing in fact. I should really look the name of this place up but for those of you who have been to Bruges will know that there is a very high bell tower in the main square? Well she had desires to go to the top. Ok, I can cope with that. Where’s the lift? There wasn’t one! Somehow she convinced me to hand over €10 each and the next thing I knew I was faced with the tiniest, tightest, spiralling staircase I have ever seen. I made it to the first and second resting point, not with the greatest of ease, but I was ready for a sit down (bear in mind I have a very heavy cold at this point) but jeepers the next stage nearly killed me. It must have been well over a third of the climb and I was gasping. Lizy on the other hand was still bouncing shouting words of encouragement from above. There was a couple of little resting points in the last stage, but I thought it was never ending, and to make matters worse people were descending on the same staircase! Halleluiah, I have made it and wow what a view! Well worth it but Im already panicking about the descent.

Mr C will never believe that I have done this so I get snapping with my camera. You could see for miles and lizy was convinced she could see the sea but my eyesight isn’t that good. At a few minutes to 1 the bells started chiming, and it was a bit loud to say the least. But just as I thought they had finished the big bell struck one and I nearly jumped out of my skin, flippin heck it was loud. The journey back down the tower was a very dizzy one and I was glad to be back at the bottom. But you should try it next time you are there as it was good really.

Couldn’t bring Lizy to Bruges without showing her the ‘biongy toy shop’ it’s a shop I love to go in a look at all the wooden toys and I have bought her a few things from there over the years. We played with the toys and then left empty handed this time.

Better get back to Mr C and he was on his 3rd beer by the time we got there so any longer and he wouldn’t have been able to walk. We decided to have some lunch which bought us nicely to our rendezvous time of 2.30 for the taxi. Mr C had muscles in wine with fries but I kept it simple with spit roast chicke. Had to have an egg nog though. OMG, they make them so strong here, so two glasses of mulled wine were required to wash it down. Decided we couldn’t leave Bruges without one last visit to Dumon to top up our supply.

Dave and Kath were in their and I think they bought more than we did! We met the others at our agreed meeting point and Taxi driver offered to take us back to the ship and on the meter it was only €42 so it was an excellent service and cut out the hassle of queuing for a shuttle bus.

Back at the ship there is a red carpet laid out and a ‘button’ on a lectern at the end of it. Ooh wonder what all that is about?

Back in the cabin I decide there is no putting it off until later and I open the cases and finish the packing. Yes, I did pack a lot and yes you are correct, you have read that id have been packing over 3 days now! All the Christmas decorations have to come back down in our cabin and its starting to look a bit bare. Mr C and Lizy were very busy over in the bar area of the cabin and if they think I really thought they had glasses of cola then they can think again!

There is a band playing down by the red carpet but we are still non the wiser what it is all about, and its too far for us to see from our balcony. Eventually I decide to go and take a walk down to prom to investigate but its all over and the place is scattered with huge red white and blue confetti, and it seems the party is over. Turns out that Bruges was using its new all singing all dancing walkway type gangway for the first time today and the President of Bruges had been invited down to christen it. So why weren’t we informed and invited to attend from prom deck? Well it turns out that not even the Captain was invited so I guess that’s why were weren’t kept in the loop. I hear that they closed the new gangway for the ceremony just as all the tours were returning and it caused havoc with the boarding of passengers up the one remaining gangway, so not good timing.

10 minutes before sailaway there was the usual call for a couple of remaining passengers who hadn’t scanned back onboard. This happens so often that I rarely take any notice of it these days. At sailing time the Captain did come over the address system to advise us that we were just waiting for two ladies who had missed their return tour bus back to the ship, so had got in a taxi back to the ship. Unfortunately that taxi driver took them to the P&O ferry terminal by mistake and it was getting late. So the ferry port phoned the port agents who advised the Captain that they were being put into another taxi and were on their way back to the ship. A journey which should take 10 minutes, but worst nightmare scenario, the taxi got lost and stuck in traffic. Eventually the Captain came back on to announce that he was being forced to move away from the dock due to a car transporter needing our berth and we had no choice but to leave without them. How must they have felt so see and hear the ship pulling away from the dock and then doing what seemed like a never ending turn to go back out to sea? What a way top end a cruise. Ok we don’t know the circumstances of how they came to fail to get back on the tour bus, but the moral of the story has to be that you allow plenty of time for errors? It does prove one point that I am always stressing and that is, that a ship will leave without you whether you are on an official organised tour or not. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, whether it’s a coach load or a lone person, if that ship has to move for whatever reason, be it wind speeds, shipping traffic, tides etc, it will leave without you! So what happens if you do miss the ship for any reason? Once it has been established that you are not back onboard, under normal circumstances security will enter your cabin and look in the obvious places for your passports, including the safe, and hopefully hand them over to the port agents. On this occasion I believe that the port agent was able to get the ladies onto a P&O ferry back to the UK and passports weren’t required so they weren’t searched for. Once the ship had departed 3 members of the ships company are dispatched to pack the contents of the cabin, two to pack and one to observe. Obviously if the next stop hadn’t have been Southampton the port agent would have assisted them in getting to the next port to rejoin the ship. If the reason any passengers miss the ship is the fault of P&O then it is my understanding that P&O pay their expenses, if it is entirely the fault of the passenger I understand that it is at the expense of the passenger.

Well it certainly provided an evening’s topic of conversations but I could help wondering what those two poor ladies were feeling.

Last nights are always strange sort of nights and its not helped by my poorly cold getting even worse, but you have guessed correct if you imagine us all sat in Andersons on the nice sofa’s, just one for the road but there is no denying it, its time for bed.

Saturday 20th December 2008 ~ Southampton

Bed didn’t last long. The air conditioning was really getting to me and I could hardly breath. At just gone 4 I decided I needed to get up for some air and by 4.30am me and Mr C were sat in Crows watching our approach to Southampton. Ok I took advantage of my last remaining internet minutes and caught up with a bit more work. True to Martyns word at 10 past 6 we sailed past the Arcadia so we went outside to check out her new aft end. I admit it was still dark, and the ship looked lovely all lit up, but the new section on the back did look a bit obvious as a chunk that had been added. I will reserve judgement until I see her in daylight.

At 6.45am I noticed a queue forming for the Medina Restaurant. Breakfast wasn’t until 7.15am but knowing what a bun fight it could be on the last morning I decided to call Mr C and get him to join me. You have got to love the British and queuing. I only left Mr C in the queue for a few minutes while I nipped to the ladies, but despite a few polite ‘excuse me’s’ some people were very reluctant to let me back up the queue. Oh shudder the thought that I would eat all of their breakfast! We managed to get a nice table for two in the window overlooking the baggage conveyor belts. Breakfast service was very slick and fast, Mr C had two omelettes and full English with baked beans, lol, but I stuck to my toast and melon.

Back at the cabin, Lizy had pulled herself out of bed. I gathered up all the last bits and pieces and it was getting close to disembarkation time. We could have had wheelchair assistance from Andersons but we decided we could manage easier by loading the wheelchair with the majority of hand luggage and getting Mr C to hobble off on crutches. They were being very very strict about not allowing anyone to congregate in the Atrium area of the ship and people were being moved on as fast as they arrived. But when quite a high ranking officer places you in the atrium, lets just say that no one made much of an effort to move us. The majority were held back in the forward and midship staircases and when one family decided to defy the rules things did get a little angry between passengers. One man was very very abusive to the family who were standing in a place closer to the gangway than he was, and in my honest opinion he deserved a thump for his attitude, but fair play to the latecomers they remained calm and moved away once they had answered him back. The entertainment value this morning was priceless and I love people watching so I was in my element.

Shortly before 9 they announced that disembarkation could proceed, here we see a lot of passengers in their true colours. Most stormed down the corridor and were prepared to take a man off his crutches to be the first down the gangplank. Despite being almost ontop of the gangway, a huge crowd got infront of us. Its nothing new and is what I have become to expect. Luckily Dave & Kath turned up and were able to assist me with the two pieces of hand luggage while Lizy pushed the wheelchair laden with stuff and Mr C fought his way up behind us. Once down into the baggage hall we were able to get a porter to assist. The cases were easily located within the Gold area and we were across the road and collecting the car keys in record time. The car was right next to the key collection point being a wheelchair user, and by 5 past 9 the car had been loaded and we were on our way. I quick detour upto Mountbatten House to collect my award which had been given back to be engraved with my award winning name and then it was back through town to the motorway.

How I managed to drive home I don’t know. I was tired and full of cold, but in just over two hours we were back in the house and it was back to reality once more.

It was a fantastic cruise, one that I can highly recommend. I cant believe what excellent value for money it is especially when you compare it to the Christmas or New Year cruises. Yes I like to be away over New Year, but for me this was like having an early Christmas. The cruise has a Christmas theme, is decorated for Christmas, the ports are full of Christmas markets and Oslo even laid on some real snow for us! I loved being outside all wrapped up in the crisp fresh air, drinking mulled wine on deck listening to Christmas tunes. Evenings for us were very relaxed and lazy, but we still had a choice of shows to attend or dancing in Carmens. Masquarades was quiet but that doesn’t bother me.  Would I do it again? Yes definitely, at the drop of a hat. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. There was no denying it was biting cold at times but we expected that and packed accordingly. I don’t recall finding any big lumps in the sea so no complaints about sea conditions. December has been like one big long Christmas. It was nice to have all the shopping done before we went away so that now we can just sit back and relax and we had a very enjoyable Christmas without the usual last minute dashing about.

A couple of things I might not have covered…

Our minisuite – We had chosen to travel in style this time around and were in Vectis Suite B265. Its actually a mini suite but it is one of the larger two onboard. Where as other mini suites are of more a conventional shape ours was L shaped, with the dining table, TV, cabinets etc being set back to give more floor space. We had a large 3 seater sofa which converted to a bed in the evening for Lizy. It wasn’t the most comfortable of beds and I think that is down to the mattress being a little old and worn. Lizy did have trouble sleeping on it and she is by no means a heavy girl. Accommodation did come and put a mattress topper on it, but it didn’t prove to be much help. We also had an oval coffee table and two comfy armchairs. To the sides of the sofa were two glass topped occasional tables with lamps on. Our king size bed could be curtained off from Lizys double sofa bed but there was no was I was going to allow that as she would have in effect got the outside balcony cabin with TV, while we had what would have become an inside cabin with no TV. The dressing table with 3 mirrors was at the foot of our bed. I cant begin to tell you how much storage space we had. I kept loosing stuff all the time because I couldn’t remember what cupboard it was in, the drawers were massive too and really deep so you could fit loads into them. There were also two ottomans at the foot of the bed which were great for throwing things in out of the way. One of the cupboards housed an ironing board and trouser press which was very handy when you just need to press the creases out of something at the last minute. I also found the safe about 3 days into the cruise!

I was slightly disappointed with the bathroom. Last time we had a mini suite was on Arcadia and that had a separate shower cubicle as well as a shower above the Jacuzzi bath. It was also larger. I found the mould in the silicone seal around the bath very off putting and if I had a stanley knife and a silicone gun I would have corrected it myself. It was such a simple little job that could have made a big difference and did niggle at me, but seeing as we had already had accommodation department out to investigate the air conditioning, the sofa bed mattress, the sofa bed that refused to fold flat in the sofa at times, the balcony partition door that repeatedly swung open for the first 24 hrs plus a few little other things I felt a daren’t report anything else, and apart from that I wasn’t there to moan I was on holiday. Just a little bit of TLC and maintenance would have made all the difference to that cabin. The dining table area was lovely and meant we had somewhere nice to sit at the laptop for loading photos etc. The glass fronted cupboards were full of a full range of glassware and there were some binoculars. We also had a magazine rack with two brand new magazines. The Nick Munro rose vase had a rose in it that was practically dead on arrival, and remained in the vase unti we disembarked very dead and curled up. They obviously trusted us with the Nick Munro sweetie tray though because that remained for the duration of the cruise and me and Liz are convinced that it was refilled as we both used to pick at them. I wish I could say that I used the seating area as much as Lizy and Mr C did for watching films etc, but in all honesty I just never had time as any spare time is spent working.

Entertainment – It realy was nothing to write home about and quite a poor selection of artists in my opinion. I would have liked to have seen a pantomime and I think it was a little short sighted of P&O not to include one on a Christmas themed cruise, especially as we have seen the pantomimes during late November cruises, but the new theatre company have a different repertoire, so there were different shows to be seen. Headliners were getting rave reviews for their Las Vegas performance and I did stick my head in on a couple of their other shows and I have to agree, that the little bits I saw, were excellent and to a very high standard. Linda Radford was the cabaret singer and what I heard of her wasn’t good or maybe ‘not to my liking’. But I also heard other people say that they left the show early. The comedian also got a similar sort of reception and feedback. I didn’t go to any of the talks, but then I never do so I cant really comment. I love listening to the Celieh Band and could listen to them and tap my feet all night. I wasn’t familiar with any of the other bands but we did miss not having Caravan onboard. They were back on as we disembarked so should be there for a few months to come. The entertainment team were mostly new to me but all were very visible, chatty and lively. Paul Carrington in my opinion should be a cruise director by now because he just excels in everything he does. Im sure it wont be long, but he is what P&O needs and would be a breath of fresh air.

Food – I had been reading quite bad reports about food on Aurora recently, but I have to say that standards of food served were probably higher than I have experienced in the past. Most of the soups were delicious and always piping hot. Lizy loved the curry ‘breakfasts’ in the Orangery, and Mr C liked to take lunch up there, but I have never been a fan of these sort of eating places and can get myself in a bad mood just queuing for a tray. I do like the addition of the sandwich man though and he made me some lovely sandwiches to order and even asks if you would like the crusts cut off. I also nipped up there a couple of times for a teacake at tea time, and have been known to sneak in a doody little filled roll at the same time. It was our usual haunt for breakfast too, but I was usually working and missed the breakfast bun fight. Sidewalk Café was surprisingly busy everyday, and it was strange to have to queue whilst wrapped up in hat and scarf. Im more used to standing their in swimwear and a cover up. But you have to have the fish, chips and mushy peas at least once a cruise and there were as good as ever. Lizy used room service on more than one occasion and it was always hot, fast and efficient. They do charge for some items and not others but I cant quite work out what the criteria is for how they decide what they will charge for as it seems pretty random. They are only nominal charges so nothing that breaks the bank.

Aurora was looking as good as ever. It was very strange to see my sunlounger sitting there every morning as I headed for the Crows Nest with me having no use for it on this cruise. We used Andersons a lot, but it was missing the focal point of Geoff the Barman. Masquarades was used very little, but we expected that. We used Crows a lot but the smell of cigarettes was very noticeable. Port side by the windows is set aside for smoking but it did creep over unless you could get seats on the very far side away from it. Only other smoking areas were Pennant bar and Riviera port side, but of course nobody wanted to venture outside in the cold to light a cigarette. As you can tell Im not a smoker and don’t like the smell of cigarettes, but im sure the smokers would argue that there isn’t enough smoking areas for them. After the World cruise believe that the entire inside of the ship will become non smoking and smoking will only be allowed on certain allocated deck areas and on balconies?

The entire ship was fully decked out with Christmas decorations and you cant fail to be impressed by them. It is lovely to return from a cold day ashore to the welcoming sight of Aurora. The Gingerbread Village was set up towards the end of the cruise which drew the crowds.

Winter Wonderland is a fantastic itinerary. It was a great build up to Christmas and I feel like I have had two Christmas’s this year. The Christmas markets and lights were excellent. If you like Christmas you will love this itinerary.

So is Aurora still my number one favourite P&O ship? Well, if I could have my choice it would be Ventura that takes the number one spot. The fact that she is bigger giving me more choices of where to go and what to do, plus more dining options etc all make her a winner for me. The cabins are much better laid out and the fact that I can have internet access in a Ventura cabin is a huge plus to me and saves me trecking about with my laptop every time I want to check emails etc.

But, now P&O have thrown a big ‘but’ at me! I like traditional formal cruising. Which is why I love P&O.  I like the semi formal nights as well as the formal nights. But P&O’s recent decision to withdraw semi formal nights from Ventura might change my mind about cruising on her again. I don’t know, the jury is still out on that one. Azura will be here soon and fingers crossed that she is sophisticated, elegant and more formal!

Click here to view my Slide show of all my photos and please feel free to leave me a comment below

Jane x

]]> http://www.gocruisewithjane.co.uk/index.php/2009/01/cruise-review-aurora-winter-wonderland-10th-20th-december-2008/feed/ 2 http://www.gocruisewithjane.co.uk/index.php/2008/12/greetings-from-onboard-aurora/ http://www.gocruisewithjane.co.uk/index.php/2008/12/greetings-from-onboard-aurora/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:45:20 +0000 Jane http://www.gocruisewithjane.co.uk/?p=385

I have now moved to my ‘office at sea’ for a few days, onboard the lovely Aurora. Doesn’t she look great in this photograph? It was taken as she passed down our starboard side during the Ventura Maiden cruise in April of this year. There was a lot of horn blasting that day! We are onboard Aurora for the Winter Wonderland cruise, she is looking great and is decorated ready for Christmas. Marco Pierre White is onboard and there is an ‘Audience with Marco Pierre White’ later today in the theatre, so I might pop along to that. In fact I think we might pop along to MPW Café Bordeaux for breakfast shortly.

It is still very much business as usual, so please feel free to contact me via email.

So far I can recomend the Winter Wonderland cruise … why not take a look at Arcadia’s Winter Wonderland cruise departing 8th December next year? There are some great prices at the moment! Email me at janechadwick@gocruise.co.uk for more information

Aurora New Year

Thursday 27th December 2007

Well, after a mad scramble the night before to get Christmas back in the loft, do the packing and make sure all was well at home we feel the need for a nother cruise.

It doesn’t matter how many cruises we have, nothing can stop me from getting excited and Im awake at just past 4 and downstairs watching Aurora come up Southampton water and turn before docking to the port side at berth 106.

Car is loaded up, and by 8.45 we are once again en route to Southampton. Amanda & Mick were even keener than us and headed south hours before us. Jeannie & Malc end up just a few miles behind us, so we have fun texting our position on the map to each other – a bit like an interactive map plotting our progress. We arrive at the Mayflower terminal just after 11, but we are not the first to arrive. Despite many ‘team talks’ the check in desks don’t open until noon, but at least they dedicated half of the checkins available to Gold members so it was quite a swift check in. there seems to be a new breed of clipboard woman, obviously trained by the original one, because last weekend cruise Mr C had a bit of a run in with one of them and today it was Amanda and Micks turn to feel the wrath of her!

Never mind after a few goldie drinks it all disappeared into a distant memory. Gold drinks were served until 2, but we were there long after that. I had to nip out to check my nail appointment as I had heard that their computer had crashed and they lost all pre booked appointments, but no, my nail appointment was all as it should be (there was a lot of ladies without hair appointments on formal nights as they should be though) I also popped down to Café B to make some bookings for music nights but it was like a ghost town with nobody around. However when I returned at 4 all evenings were full!!! A note was left to waitlist us and sure enough the lovely restaurant manager called the cabin with a reservation for us later that evening.

As we were getting ready to set sail, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the cabin. Oooh we have got flowers! They are from the assistant F&B manager who was our wedding planner for our wedding blessing 3 years ago. What a lovely touch that was. Mr C did more of the unpacking than me but I did manage to organise my own case and that was about it. Lizy was very well organised in her cabin and she has that all set up very nicely. Mr c is watching a film but me and liz decide we have to do sailaway. We met amanada under lifeboat number 2, but no Mick! He hasn’t been well and now its full blown man flu, so he has taken to his bed. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t have champagne at sailaway, so we partook in a glass. We could hear the jazz band playing, but couldn’t get near the rails to see them. I cant help thinking that something a little more festive would have been nicer. We slipped away but despite a fair old speed it seemed to take forever to pass by all the hotels, park and get to QE2 terminal. Me and Amanda went on a little wander around to see what was what. Bumped into Brett & Marsha, hey it’s a good job everyone knows me because I would never know who half the people on the ship were.

Back at the cabin Mr c is still resting and watching a film, but im so tired that I know if I even think about getting on the bed I wont get up again today, so im straight in the shower and changed for the night ahead. Hardly a sole in Andersons but then it is only just 7.30 and it doesn’t take long to fill up. Lizy isn’t too far behind me but the time Amanda gets in there is no bar stools left. Still no Mick and he is officially poorly now. Lizy, the social butterfly heads upto Crows to join Alistair for pre dinner drinks and we all meet up again at dinner.

Edrich has been an absolute star and has given us the table I requested (ok the table I wanted lol) a fab table for 9 with room for a special guest tomorrow making it 10. Abi and R are two fab table waiters and Brian is our wine steward, simply cant do better than that.

We were undecided about where to go after dinner. Carmens seemed the natural choice, but Crows was the most popular choice so we headed for a quiet drink at the bar up there, except it wasn’t quiet when we got there! Amanda had to go a be nurse to mr Crossland. Moraga nd Jeannie headed for bed but Malc came back out. David and Vicki also found us and a jolly night was had by all. I confess to being the first to cave in and feel the need for my bed, which caused great amusement. But it was the best choice. Within minutes of getting into bed I was asleep. I never heard Mr C come back, but I think malc had been giving him lessons on how to slip in backwards like a ghost!

Friday 28th December 2007

7.20 am and there is a loud knock at the door. Mr C has ordered breakfast in bed. A lovely thought but it’s a bit early and still dark!! It was very nice though and nice to jus chill out in bed with tea, toast, cereals and pastries. The waves are picking up, but our cabin F160 is a solid as a rock. Im a bit worried about lizy though because she is more far forward. Oh well I guess she will ring if she needs sea sick tablets.

I had a nail appointment at 10 so I needed to get out of bed. I actually thought about going to the gym too, but the thought didn’t last very long! It sounded like it could be pretty hard work, and as it was early I thought I might get hassled by the gym instructor and told what was best for me etc. I’ll consider it for later in the cruise.

The salon was very busy with hair doo’s being churned out every 30 minutes ready for formal night. Mr C came and checked on my progress as did Amanda and as soon as I was done I went off to look for both of them. Bumped into Alistair on the way so we went on a joint reckie but couldn’t find either of them. Turns out that Mr C had returned to the majic cabin because it was the only still place on the ship. Later found out that Amanda was in Crows reading but it was all me and Alistair could do to stay upright in there as it really is very very bumpy today. Our big hunt finishes in Champions at the bar as we figure one of them will find us soon enough. Thoughts move towards lunch time, and time is ticking on because the hour went on the clocks at noon today.  I phoned the cabin and mr c declared he cant leave the majic cabin and is quite happy to lie in bed watching films. Lizy is there too so she comes out for lunch. We check out restaurant menu, café b, orangery and end up at Sidewalk. No problem getting a seat in a force 10! I have to fetch a couple of fleeces but its all very pleasant. The hawiian burger fills me up and I know it must be time for a snooze. And what a fab snooze it was too. Lizy had to come down to the majic cabin though as hers is hitting all the bumps. Good job these king size beds are massive and can accommodate 3 in a bed. The look on the waiters face when he knocked the door with the canapés was a picture lol.

Captains cocktail party tonight and we should be in Crows but as soon as I got outside majic cabin and got to the front stairwell, my feet were having difficulty finding the floor. We met in Andersons for pre dinner drinks and it was decided that we wouldn’t bother with the cocktail party – that was until lizy appeared and said that she wanted to go. Apparently I didn’t have a choice in the matter as I had spent years forcing her to attend when she was little so now she was turning the tables! We got up there for the last 15 minutes or so and it wasn’t very busy, but I think that was due to the weather conditions. Captain Paul brown had some new captains jokes and its not our job to look after the weather this time.

Poor mick is still struck with flu, malc is under the weather and jeanie was never expected to surface in these sea conditions, but morag and Amanda are both up and well.

Staff Captian Andy joins us for dinner this evening. Its his first time in Medina so we are honoured. A good time is had by all and the meal was delightful. Fillet steak was particularly tender this evening and the choice for sweet was a tough one, chantilly strawberries, lemon minature deserts or hot chocolate soufflé?! Ive had to sign the official secrets act about what was discussed at dinner by the way, so don’t ask!

We decided to head to Carmens but mr c is refusing to dance. Of course here are no ents team that dance so a random man near the bar takes me for a waltz. I should really have dragged him up for a quickstep too but he was talking to someone by then. After a while we drifted up to Crows, but we let Andy out of the lift at deck 12 as he needed to go and check his bed valance.

Crows wasn’t the livliest of places and they were already closing half the bar down. One drink in there and we went back down to deck 7. Masquerades has been turned over to the kids as is usual for the festive cruises, but its still a very sore subject with me. Even lizy felt old in there, so we trotted along to Carmens which is the grown ups nightclub, but of course its too big in there when there are just a few passengers rattling around in there. We decide its time for bed.

Saturday 29th December 2007

Breakfast arrives at 8 this morning and the toast was still warm enough to butter.

We are just docking at la corrunna but its drizzling so I roll back over and have a snooze. At 11.30 we head into town to meet amanda and mick and a vodka and coke wakes me up, a very large one at that. I gave Alistair the wrong directions but he worked out where we were and came and found us. Time to move on and find somewhere to eat. We found a very nice little place across the square towards the old town and had many varietys of food placed infront of us – potato omelette, tuna pie, real fries and lots of drinks. Somehow we staggered back to the ship and jeannie spotted us from her balcony. We were invited up for sailaway drinks and it all becomes a little bit of a blurr after that. They were very long sailaway drinks anyway and I don’t think we left until we were miles out to sea.

I knew there was no chance of me ever getting out of my bed if I got into it so I was washed showered and out of the cabin straight to pre dinner drinks in Andersons.

Martin (Navigator) joined us for dinner this evening. Maybe we were too much for staff captain the other night lol. Far too much food and wine was consumed again and it wasn’t long before we ended up back in Andersons.

Sunday 30th December 2007

Oh dear why did I drink so many cosmopolitans and baileys last night. I feel dreadful and I think I may have flu creeping up on me. Being poorly doesn’t put me in the best of moods so I will apologise now if I wasn’t very sociable or respond very well when spoken to. Amanda is poorly full of cold but mick is recovering. We sit out on prom deck for a while just trying to take in the sea air, but despite it being a very pleasant morning I just want my bed so im back under the duvet. Mr c was sent ot to get me some lunch but he only got himself into the bad books for getting it wrong.

The gang were all in champions having a jenga challenge, which didn’t go down to well with those trying to watch the football on tv lol. Despite our poorliness me, Amanda and lizy had to make sure the arrangements were in order for the Anniversary doo in Captains lounge later this evening, but our social committee skills soon had it all sorted and I could return to my bed for an hour.

Im not feeling quite so bad by the time pre dinner drinks time arrives but Amanda is pretty grim this evening. We know we have to plod on though as its our big doo! 15 of us are dining together this evening so you can imagine how big the pre dinner drinks bash was.

Oh the Captains lounge looked fantastic and the restaurant manager and boys had done us proud. We had a new fandanglked ‘complimentary’ starter from the chef  he comes up with some good ones I will give him that! The meal was absolutely divine but I ordered far too much so I made a bit of a pig of myself.

The restaurant manager had gone to such a lot of trouble to make our night special and he had a special anniversary cake baked for us, but oh the choir headed by himself and oscar was something none of us will ever forget. They both went all out for us and their version of Congratualtions will be something I wont ever forget!

Malc headed the after dinner jokes around the table and yet more wine and liquers were consumed until very late into the evening.

It was 60’s and 70’s night in Carmens and I quite expected it all to be over by the time we got there but it was in full swing. Malc was still on full form and we couldn’t get him off the dance flor so we sort of had a bit of rota amongst the girls to keep him going. Somehow I don’t think he would be slipping into bed like a ghost tonight. I had to cave in at about 1.30 but lizy, Alistair, mr & Mrs Yates and mac carried on until the very wee hours and I belive they moved onto masquerades at some point!

Monday 31st December 2007

That’s it, it’s the last day of 2007! But what happens? We all get struck down with flu.  Ive tossed and turned all night and couldn’t settle until I could see Funchal was on the correct side of the ship as she docked. I then slipped into a couple of hours sleep but oh heck I felt rubbish when I woke up. I raided my little medicine box for anything that was cold and flu related but I think the germs have got me.

We stopped by Raffles for a mocha but I couldn’t face any food.

For the first time I can remember in years I didn’t have the energy to walk into town and instead we jumped on the shuttle bus. Oh what a mistake that was. It seemed to take hours as the traffic up on the main road was bumper to bumper. We did ask the driver if we could get off and walk as it would have been 10 times quicker but he was having non of it.

Met Amanda and Mick in one of the bars along the front but I couldn’t face alcohol (yes I really am poorly today) so I had a couple of colas and just one glass of wine, but it didn’t go down to well. Poor Mr C is struggling too and he wanted a steak on a stone, but he cant face it. So we end up with simple pasta and pizza dishes. Its glorious hot sunshine, but I cant even bare to let the rays touch me and I sit well under the shade just trying to keep cool as the flu is doing enough to burn me up. Eventaully we gathered enough energy to walk up into town. Oh boy it was busy. All the usual festivities of traditional dancers and bands were playing and the atmoshphere, as always was great, but im just not in the mood. Mick had found a great little bar down a side alley and while the well people drank beer the poorly people drank coffee. Me and Amanda went in search of medication but the pharmacies were either closed or had queues out of the door. Thankfully on the way back to the ship we found and empty pharmacy and the pharmacist sold us a bit of everything to cover all eventualities.

We got back on a very busy shuttle bus back to the ship, passing Thomson Destiny, the World and Aida Diva on the way. I was straight through the atrium, into the cabin, a dose of all medication and straight under the duvet. Didn’t sleep though and didn’t feel any better for a lie down. I just cant believe it has been such a glorious hot sunny day and ive missed it. Oh well worse places to feel poorly I guess?

Ive just looked out of te window and Funchal is all light up. Oh it looks so pretty. The world has just sailed past the window to go and sit out in the harbour (not so wealthy then if she cant afford to stay along side) Black watch is about to slip into her place.

Time to get up and get my glad rags on then!

Oh we had a blast at dinner – literally!  P&O always provide us with hats, blowers and party poppers so we always feel obliged to make full use of them. The haggis was piped in and the Scottish man said his bit then stabbed the haggis and all that malarkey. I had the haggis as a main course because its so yummy and I never get any at any other time of year. Dinner was quite a subdued affair really – until we started!!!  We waited until after main course and then we started, we played songs on our hooters, we blasted them out. It was hard work trying to get other tables to join in but slowly they did join us. The table for 4 behind Malc gave up trying to ignoire us so decided to join in with us. We had to help them out with some amo to fire at Malc as he was giving them full attack. We piped everyone out of the restaurant that dared to walk past our table. We were getting some very disapproving looks from the Chiefs table, who clearly weren’t in party mood at all as their party hats were still in the middle of the table. I dodnt think Martyn our host has ever had so much fun at a table. Of course he didn’t join in at all because he had stripes lol. We could have stayed their all night blowing our horns but we guessed that there maybe some who would like to see the back of us so we departed.

Jeannie and Malc had kindly invited us all up to their mini suite for a bit of a doo and to see the fireworks. There was a big party up by the Riviera but its so much more civilised without all the pushing and shoving for rail space, and anyway its become part of the New Year cruise now.

The fireworks really were amazing this year. They never ever fail to amaze me and I cant think of any where better to see in 2008. they lasted just over 15 minutes and the finale was deafening but fantastic.

Sadley Im too poorly to toast the New Year in properly so Jeannie makes me a lem sip!  Poor Jeannie is suffering too as is Amanda Mick and a few others. Im really not in the mood for partying and after all the excitement I just want my bed, and I can see Jeannie needs hers. Im tucked up under my duvet just after 12.45 feeling a bit sad that Im not out partying but all the same quite content under the snugly duvet.

Tuesday 1st January 2008

It’s a glorious calm peaceful sunny morning at sea. Im really full of cold now and in desperate need of fresh air so shortly before 8 I wander up to the Riviera. The attendants are just laying out the loungers after the party the night before and Im sure it wasn’t too many hours ago that people were in full blown party mode right where Im sat. I get my usual sunbed in the usual spot and lay there as the deck very slowly fills with bodies. Im coughing and hacking and can hardly breath. I try to do a little bit of work up in the cyberstudy but Im sweating and just cant concentrate. At 1130 I decide to visit the doc to see if he can sort my symptoms out and he gives me some cough medicine and antibiotics and charges me £70 for the privalage. Just as I get back to my sun lounger Captain Paul Brown is doing the rounds and stops by for a chat, but Im going down hill fast. The doc has advised me to get plenty of fresh air but Im starting to shiver. There I am sat in the balzing sun wrapped up in towels with Mr C’s jacket on and with my head covered. Everytime I cough my airwaves close over and Im doomed, breathing is an effort and I start to panic. Eventually Mr C decides enough is enough and Im taken down to my bed – little did I know that I would hardly venture out for the next 3 days. It had been such a perfect day too, just tootling along in the sun at 8 knotts! Of course I didn t make dinner or little else for the rest of the day.

Wednesday 2nd January 2008 – Tenerife

Oh it’s a lovely morning abnd we are in Tenerife. I feel like Im dying but I have to get up and get outside. But I cant do it. My body just refuses to co operate with me. Me C helps me in to the shower and im still convinced that if I can manage to get dressed I will be fine once outside.

I knew as I was standing waiting for the shuttle bus that I needed my bed, but still I battled on. The bus came and took us to the dock gate and then I tried to walk. My legs were having none of it and my knees were starting to buckle. I made it as far as the road but I was defeated. I just wanted to cry and be back in my bed, which is where I was 10 minutes later. And there I stayed again just sending myself la la staring at the ceiling. Mr C had a nice time drinking with the boys and then forming some secret society back onboard the ship.

He had to go to dinner alone again and Im getting more and more fed up and cheesed off with myself. Despite having a ‘Do not disturb’ note on the door the phone rings just after 8.15. its room service wanting to know if he can deliver a fresh bowl of fruit ‘no thank you Im poorly, don’t need it and cant get out of bed’ yes but Madam, can I bring the bowl of fruit?’ NO Im poorly. Ok Madam, I’ll bring it straight away!!! Oh give me strength! Maybe he just wants to see how many are in the big bed tonight?

Thursday 3rd January 2008

Ooh its rough today. The sea isn’t in a very good mood at all! But then neither am I! Im feeling really rough and extremely weak. Enough is enough. These antibiotics aren’t working, im convinced if I get up and have a shower I will feel well enough to get to the doctors, but I cant do it. Mr C has to support me in the shower and then dress me. How or why I got to the doctors I will never know. It is really rough and that aside I can bearly stand anyway. The nirse took one look at me clinging to Mr C on arrival that she just opened up a side ward and put me on a bed. I could hardly breath I was in such a state. All of the portholes down in the ward were covered and I could hear the waves hammering the side of the ship. Ive only ever been in the hospital when it is calm and quiet. The doc and nurse poke and prod at me and get me to blow into some sort of machine. Then Im having nose swabs done and all the time Im hacking my brains out and cant control the coughing. The doc decides the best course of action is to inject me and put me to sleep for a while then maybe as I rest I will heal? Well some stronger tablets would have been good but all the poking and prodding just cost me another £170 and Im sent on my way. I make it as far as my bed but there is no way I can sleep so I just lie there going a bit more stir crazy.

The ship is taking a right old battering and the waves are hammering us. Things are crashing and rolling all over the place. Nothing in the cabin will stay put so its best to just let it all roll around.

It was Portunus lunch today – bet that was interesting in the Alexandria restaurant? Andy had invited us all up to the bridge and there was no way I was going to make that appointment but Lizy Mr C and the gang went along. I didn’t need to go anyway as I went on a nice calm day last cruise. Brian the deer hag been to some stag doo by the sounds of it. Apparently we are touching a force 12 so that must have been a fun visit.

Ive decided that I have had enough. I don’t know what was in that injection the doc gave me, it didn’t send me to sleep but it did chill me out a bit and im feeling brave enough for a shower. About 3 hours later and with a lot of help from Liz and Mr C I have a dress on, and some lipstick and I can walk with support from Mr C from the cabin to dinner.

How the hell I was standing I don’t know because the ship was all over the place. I had just made it as far as the door and then … ‘Assesment party Assesment party to F202’ oh that’s just down from us. Within seconds officers were flying around the corner from the stair well and legging it to the cabin just along from us. Andy was very calm and collected as he passed and even managed a controlled ‘good evening’ we got to the dinner table and only Lizy was in attendance from the 10 of us. I had just toojk my seat when the Captain came over the tannoy ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, there has been an incident! A wave has hit us with force and a window on F deck has been broken…..’ you could hear pin drop even on the thick carpet. He explained what they intended to do and advised that we all needed to be seated as the ship was about to be turned and we may lurch….’ I have to say that Captain Brown sounded quite nervous and dint sound too confident, but it was later explained to me that he had to take the stairs as quickly as he could from the incident on deck 5 back t o the bridge as they are forbidden from using the lifts in an emergency (personally I would have cheated but flair play to him) And so we sat at our big lonely table wondering what if and waiting for the big lurch. Thankfully it went the other way for us and it was actually much calmer and quieter when we did make the turn. Mr C went back to the cabin shortly after to get me some tablets and he said that large pieces of wood were being carried towards the ‘incident’ cabin. Dinner was a very sombre affair with a lot of worried faces around. I had made a big effort to get to dinner tonight and in a way I was glad because I really didn’t want to be in my cabin alone and scared.

I was so looking forward to a bowl of clear consommé soup tonight as persribed by the nurse, but no consome was on the menu, I couldn’t believe it! There was a cold prawn and something and a thick creamy soup. I asked Madhu if there was any chance of something light and before I knew it the head waiter was fussing around. He explained that all of the consome had been lost earlier when the big wave hi, but he would see what he could do. 20 minutes later a bowl of piping hot consome was infront of me. Im sure all those chefs had far better things to do than rustle me up a bowl of clear soup but Im really grateful to them for their efforts. Lizy and Mr C decided to lighten the mood at our big empty table for 10 by plotting a suitable course to the engine room, and working out the best route through the hull just like in Poseidon Adventure! Bless em, I don’t know which one of them was going to carry me when I was unconscious!

The atmosphere in the restaurant was too intense to we hobbled up to Andersons and took a big sofa by the fireplace. The family, whose cabin had been affected, were in Andersons with  a couple of officers being offered alternative accommodation. The couple involved had been out at the time and the two young families were in cabins either side, they were all found suitable other cabins for the rest of the cruise and their belongings moved. I understand that damage to their personal items was minimal, and im sure that P&O were very appreciative of them being so understanding in horrendous circumstances. The Captain was soon back on the tannoy advising us again to go and find a seat somewhere as he was about to turn us and put us back on course. Here we go again, up and down, roll over the side, bang bang clatter as things started to fall around us again. Even the shop has been shut all day because of falling items and Ive never seen that before. Geoff pulled down the shutters behind the bar to stop any more bottles falling.

The Captain is back on again adviseing us that all F deck cabins on the port side will now have a steel shutter fitter to the window as a form of protection. OMG that’s us.

By the time we got back to the cabin we had our steel shutter. It was like a big metal plate over the window and it quite freaked me out. I didn’t like it at all. Mr C tried to comfort me by telling me that it would just help catch the glass etc and lessen the impact but no I didn’t like it. We had been left a letter on the bed apologising for the inconvenience and they also left us 4 ear plugs as they expected the metal shutter to bend and cause us noise disturbance during the night. I don’t like this shutter thingy and think I would prefer to know when a wave has got me. Perhaps if I close the curtains it will make like it was never there.

Friday 4th January 2008 – Lisbon or not?

Yes, this morning we should be in Lisbon, but the Captain already warned us after last nights ‘incident’ that we wouldnt be dockng until around 1030am. By 10 its obvious that Lisbon is nowhere in sight and he decides to inform us that we cant pick up the pilot until lunch time and expect to arrive around 2.30, but we can have an extra hour in port until 6.00pm. Not ideal but at least we can fit in chicken and chips and a bit of shopping. But, our re planning of the afternoon didn’t last long because he was soon back on the tannoy to tell us that we couldn’t make it to Lisbon afterall. Something to do with the ‘bar’ in the river Tagus not being deep enough for us  to get over this time around due to inclement whether. The news is not well received. We all have our different reasons for being cheesed off, but I think more than anything everyone just wanted to feel stable on some dry land for an hour or so. Im so poorly that im just sick of not being able to stand or walk un aided. But hey ho, we are now ploughing onto Southampton and yep, its rough, very rough.

Its like being incarcerated in a tomb in our cabin with this steel shutter on and its starting to freak me out. It doesn’t make it like an inside cabin, its most definitely an outside cabin with a coffin lid on.

I have to get up, I have work to do for one thing, but most of all I need to get up for my own sanity. Only someone who was equally as poorly as me would understand what an effort it is to get up and dressed and walk the length of the ship to meet the others in Champions, and then to sit in a window and watch the enormous swell and huge waves spray across the prom deck takes some doing.

There is an up side to my poorliness. Ive lost weight, quite a bit judging by my trousers and I seem to have been put off alcohol for life. I tried a cocktail of the day but it just scraped my throat so it had to stay on the table and I was on lemonade for the rest of the day.

As I start to feel slightly normal again I decide to go and do a little work in the library. Oh dear I never banked on how difficult it was to concentrate when feeling under the weather, plus the sea is throwing me all over the place and there is a bunch of very noisy kids playing just behind me who needed muting. I did what had to be done and thankfully mr C turned up in time to send my emails and close my laptop down for me. Gosh I was ill by the time I got back to Champions and had to lie down, but I came around after time. They had been playing cards in my abscense so I hadn’t missed anything.

We decided to do afternoon tea and I managed half a toasted teacake and half a crumpet. Didn’t want to over do it. The service wasn’t as good as we had experienced in the past so lizy was a little disappointed, but it did what it said on the tin and fed and watered us.

Now what happened next, im not so sure im supposed to tell you about? We were invited to be initiated into the boys ‘Fish Finger Club’ Sunil at Crystal bar seemed to be expecting us and even bought as chair up to the bar for me as could see I want well enough to perch on a bar stool. I cant really tell you much about the initiation as one day you may be invited in, so I will have to leave it there.

Time is ticking on and as much as I need a sleep and lie down I decide I have to get ready and go out this evening. I confess that I have been too weak to stand in the shower unaided the last couple of days, but today im feeling brave and Mr C is having a lie down so I got in the shower unaided. Oh dear big mistake. I was very wobbly and un easy on my feet. Im trying to wash my hair one handed while holding onto the shower rail but i felt a bit queasy and I closed my eyes ‘whoosh’, one of those huge big waves from outside the window was hurtling towards me. Oh panic, I opened my eyes again quickly and shut them again and this time there is a 10ft wine waiter poised above my head!!!  Medication? Drugs?? Goodness knows what I have been taking lately but I do know those huge scarey waves had such and effect on me. My ‘experience’ took its toll on me and I needed to lie down. Getting ready for dinner then became an effort and I ended up being a little late. I still cant walk without Mr C holding me up and a wheelchair would have been a great bonus this holiday.

Nearly back to a full table at dinner. Only Morag and Jeanie missing tonight. Andy is in attendance tonight so of course we have to blame him for missing our chicken and chips in Lisbon today. Good job he has a good sense of humor. Apparently he has heard about our antics on new years eve with the blowers and party poppers lol, oh we had some fun. Madhu is most concerned because I wont have any thing other that tomato soup this evening, but even that is a struggle. The flavours of different foods after you have been poorly is so intense. I tried to make Madhu happy and have a couple of cream crackers instead of a desert but they just clung to my throat and nearly choked me to death, so that wasn’t good. I refused wine again and stuck with my little can of lemonade – gosh whats wrong with me?

Mick was suffering again so Amanda and Mick went to bed and we all went to Andersons for drinks. I dont think there was a lot happening around the ship as Andersons was very busy. Well, Tom O conner obviously didn’t get on today for his show tonight, Caravan was on in Café B and the Tower of London speaker was on in the theatre, so there really wasn’t much choice. Anyway we enjoyed our chat. Andy still hasn’t investigated his bed valance situation for me and may be he will get around to it before he gets off on Monday. We try to explain how we all know each other as he thinks we are not a bunch of people he would normally match together (he actually used a big word to describe it but I don’t know what it was)

Time was ticking on, it was just past midnight and Malc needed to slip into bed like a ghost. I needed some air after the smoke created by those horrid smokers in Andersons so me and Mr C chose t walk forward to midship on the outside prom deck. Well it was cold and windy and I nearly got my head taken off by a large oil painting when we came back inside and the wind caught it, it literally just skimmed past my head!

All is calm and peaceful in the cabin. No steel shutters, no need for ear plugs, no huge waves battering us. Line up the medication. Hang out the wet cloths for easy breathing, and sleep.

Saturday 5th January 2008

Wow! I didn’t wake up this morning until it was daylight….which means I have been asleep for the first time in about a week! Its a remarkably calm morning or at least it felt it, but then I looked out of the window and saw those rolling waves.

We had a nice lazy morning just sitting about in Champions listening to the band and chattering.

Decided to go for lunch in Medina as it was our favourite jacket potato and beans (easily pleased after an illness) oh it was delicious.

Now as we are all such brave sailors now, and the sea was rather dramatic we decided to go to Crows Nest for drinks, which was errrr interesting! Lizy stared out of the window for so long that she saw a whale, which was later confirmed by the Navigator so she did see it.

Its hard to get an afternoon sleep on here as anytime between 5 and 6 the man knocks the door with the canapés, spring rolls had come back around tonight.

Portunus party in carmens this evening and somehow I managed to get ready. Tamarin had exactly the same speech and Captain Brown just rattled on about Ventura and the 2010 build, so nothng new there. I managed one sip out of the new cocktail which was disgusting and that’s the only drink I had. Zoran came and found me and its always nice to see him. Lizy walked in and Zoran nearly got a slap when I spotted him drooling out the corner of my eye.

Madhu is getting very concerned because he is convinced that I just don’t eat. I opted again for bread roll and consommé this evening and he just cant seem to comprehend that I have been very poorly bless him. It was Martyns turn to join us for dinner this evening and I must say that its very nice having two officers hosting a table instead of just the one.

Parade of the chefs seemed like a bit of a damp squib and it was over before they had got down the stairs almost, but I guess they have better things to do than prance around to music for our entertainment.

Entertainment this evening was dire and Carmens had been taken over by the after dinner speaker rattling on about some rubbish or other. So we ended up back in Andersons and Crows.

Sunday 6th January 2008

WOW! I did it again – ive been asleep and woke up again. That may not sound like a miracle to you but after being ill for days and sendng myself stir crazy through the nights because all I wanted to do was sleep, having a proper nights sleep is something I never thought would happen again. And, miracle of miracles the sea is calm and flat again. I have no idea where or when the bay of Biscay was but it must have been calm lol. I decide to get out of bed and do a case full of packing, then we go in search of life onboard. Didn’t take long to find Mick and Amanda and we headed off to Champions for a glass of lemonade. We also managed the music quiz and didn’t do too badly.

The captain made an announcement to say that he was taking us into Southampton early as the sea conditions weren’t brilliant for this evening.we are only sitting off the UK anyway and I think he would have took us in earlier but both the Oriana, QE2 and QV have all gone in late today after suffering pretty much the same as us for the last few days. Sounds like its been ‘fun’ for all of us and im told we have made the news. Oh I cant wait to read all about our trip when we get home and see how wrong they have got it all.

We all went up to sidewalk for lunch and I had fish and chips for the first time this cruise. Ok, I cant count on one hand what I have actually eaten for the entire cruise as my appetite hasn’t been great, but the New Year diet has had a great kick start. And im almost T total lol.

I went back and tackled a little bit more packing. We had agreed to meet on deck 13 for a quoits tournament so off I treck, and yes, this is the first time this cruise that I have been near the sun deck. It was far from sunny, more like blowing a freezing gale as I trecked the length of the ship, but when I got there the others had abandoned play. Not hard to guess where they would be so down I trecked to Champions, and there they all were at the bar.

The ship was quite a hive of activity. The kids had put on a panto in Masquarades and the bit I saw was very funny. Neil was conducting a Salsa class. Jackpot snowball Bingo was rammed as you might imagine.

As I go about the ship today I seem to get stopped by so many crew who seemed genuinely pleased to see me up and well again. I hadn’t realised that so many people knew I was ill but it seems my presence was missed. It also seems that im in a bit of a minority because im not moaning about being poorly. Gosh, I did more than my fair share about being poorly at the time and now I just want to get on with enjoying what bit of a holiday I have left. Its nobodys fault that I got poorly and I wasn’t the only one so why dwell on it?

Almost a full table at dinner tonight, both Jeannie and Morag were back but we lost the officer. Im still on my lemonade and soup diet and watching everyone else treck through the various courses took a long time. We’re not far off Southampton now and ships and ferries are passing us quite close.

After dinner we head up to Crows for a last drink (or can of lemonade in my case!) and Oriana passes along our port side very close so we all go outside to wave her off on her World Voyage.

Back in the cabin I keep popping my head up from the pillow to check our progress up Southampton water and eventually we turn and dock.

Monday 7th January 2008

Im awake bright and breezy and I throw the last few bits into the holdall. We have given up with breakfast on the last day so we gathered our stuff together and headed for the Atrium. Yes I know you are not supposed to wait there but half the ship seemed to be so what the hell. As soon as the ganway was opened we were off, down the escalator, collected the suitcases, across the car park and on the road by 9.00am

All in all it wasn’t quite the cruise we expected. We have been so very lucky in the past with the weather at this time of year so I can hardly complain. The sea can be a scary cruel place and Im sure that if I wasn’t ill I would have coped a lot better with the situation. Lizy wasn’t affected by the sea or any virus that was floating around. She had a fab old time considering she had a poorly Mum to deal with.

Im sure this cruise will be talked about for many moons to come and many passengers will dine out on their personal stories and recollections. Many will believe that they could have done it better, steered around the storm, done it slower, faster and so on. I cant find it in my heart to blame anyone for what we encountered during this cruise, I just have to put it down to experience and lets hope lightneing doesn’t strike in the same place twice!

A couple of other little snippets –

The cabin refurbishments. The ship had undergone a mini refit in December and we had been on the cruise either side of the refit. I was a little disappointed last time to find our cabin soft furnishings a bit of a mis match and this cruise was no exception. We had a brown valance with green and brown bed runner. Peach and pink curtains and then the room divider curtains were the same old pastel ones. The sofa was peach but in desperate need of a clean and the dressing table chair was green. Maybe I just spent too much time in the cabin this time around but it really rattled me that nothing matched. However, as the ship docked in Southampton on Monday morning they were bringing on all of the new curtains and extra soft furnishings so it seems they were just missing for a while. Im sure they must look a lot better co ordinated now. The bed had a great comfy mattress but I do feel a bit insulted that they choose to cover both the mattress and the duvet with a waterproof covering. This makes the bed very warm and sweaty and not very pleasant when I was laid in it for days on end. Also the bottom sheet wouldn’t stay put and kept sliding off everytime we turned over. Maybe they will see the error of their ways in time. A standard cabin has always served me perfectly well, but being ill in one is no fun at all. There is no floor space, nowhere to go, the sofa is neither use nor ornament and I would have killed at times for a breath of fresh air from a balcony.

Some of the soft furnishings in public rooms still looked as if they could do with some refurb, but I am being picky and was looking for flaws. And to be fair I saw new Andersons and Raffles chairs taken onboard in Southampton, so maybe they were being done as a rolling project.

The Spa didn’t look as if it had had much of a refurb and I know that some of the planned work couldn’t be carried out. I never made it to the gym but im told they had some new state of the art equipment in there.

Andersons was going to be completely non smoking from the start of the world cruise. On a personal note that pleased me because I think the smoking area in there was far too big and as its one of my favourite bars I was affected by the smell of smoke in there. On the other hand, Geoff the regular barman was not a happy chappy about it and I can see his point. A lot of regulars use his bar and also enjoy a smoke. Those regulars wont now use his bar and his takings will be affected.

The ship was reregistered in Hamilton, but weddings wont be performed onboard until after the World cruise.

Caravan disembarked for the Worldie and Inspiration took their place. Entertainment was a bit dire really. In my opinion, the theatre troop that got on at the Satrt of our Caribbean cruise in November hadn’t improved any. Lizy went along to the panto but she said it was too embarrassing and amateur to watch. Of course Tom O’Connor was left stranded at Lisbon somewhere so we never saw him again. The after dinner speaker and lecturer prattling on about the war, Cyprus and the tower of London do nothing for me but I dare say some enjoyed them. The other entertainers have already sunk into oblivion for me and I couldn’t tell you who they were without going and looking out the entertainment guide, but as I always say – I don’t go on a cruise for the entertainment as I can usually manage to have a good time.

The staff and crew onboard were as wonderful as ever. We had two great table waiters and we never experienced any problems with service onboard. We had an excellent table for 10 which I knew had caused a bit of a challenge but Im very grateful to the restaurant manager for sorting that out. Our night in Café B Captains lounge will stand out for me as one of the highlights. Again superb service and the restaurant managers surprise Wedding Anniversary cake really touched me. Oscar leading the choir that night – unforgettable! Our cabin steward did what he had to do but that was about it. He didn’t make any effort to have a chat or go the extra mile. We bumped into Angelo the great towel animal making expert from our cabin up on deck 8, he was a super star and one of those top cabin guys that you find every now and then. Im sure Andy is looking out for this report so I have to give him a mention, Ive already forgotten everything that we ever spoke about, and hope you are now soaking up the rays on Arcadia.

Please feel Free to leave a comment below and you can view the rest of my pictures here in the Aurora New year 07/08 slide show and the fireworks we’re so impressive this year I felt they deserved a slide show of their own

Hi All

Sorry I didn’t tell you all about my little weekend away on Aurora, but originally it was to have been a surprise Wedding anniversary present for Mr C (2 years this year) but as someone who shall remain nameless (clue – begins with C ends in A) found out some how and decided to announce it to all on WLC, so lets just say it was a bit of a sore subject with me!  I mean, come on, Hubby would never have guessed that I would dare to buy him a cruise for a wedding Anniversary pressie just 9 days before one cruise and 10 days after the previous one lol.

Oh but it was fab!  I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  We had the most fantastic company and that made it even better than we could have hoped for.

I didn’t keep a diary/write a report this time as I was too busy enjoying myself, but I will try and give you a brief summary.

Friday 15th December

We took the train from Coventry to Southampton which was, errrm lets just say, not my cup of tea.  Arrived at Southampton slightly late but nothing major.  We came out of the station and walked across to the Holiday Inn which only took a few minutes.  I stayed her a few years back and I thought it was a bit grubby, but it had obviously had a refurb as it was very clean and tidy.  We had a room on the second floor overlooking the park, which again I would say had been recently refurbed.

Downstairs was a nice bar where we enjoyed a couple of drinks before being joined by Kath & Dave Hellon, which of course meant we needed another drink, hic!

We took a walk into town and ended up in the German Market drinking mulled wine with rum which knocked me sideways!  We got back to the hotel room and I zonked out and if it hadn’t been for my son ringing me later I would have probably slept through the night.

We ate out with Dave & Kath at Cuccinis on the Quay.  Highly recommended, excellent meal.  We were going to go and find Cruisa and Co after dinner for a drink but the light weights had all gone to bed lol.

Saturday 16th December

I spent a restless night tossing and turning and kept getting up to see if my ship was coming into port.  At 4 minutes to 6 she sailed slowly past the park all light up and looking superb.

We had a very good breakie in the hotel restaurant and then lazed about for an hour reading the morning papers.

At 11.00 we couldn’t stay calm for much longer and decided to get a taxi to the Mayflower.  There it was all laid out in front of us.  An empty, Gold Portunus carpet leading to the Goldies desk!  The Hellons seemed to enjoy their first ever walk on it lol. I quite enjoyed the wait, doing the people watching and watching the queues build very quickly.

We were soon checked in, and in the lounge enjoying a drink, but only the one as Goldies were called to board.  We headed straight for Goldie drinks in Andersons this time.  Drinks flowed nicely and sandwich’s were plentiful.

But I had a nail appointment at 1.30, so I departed and chilled out with Kim in the salon who had done my nails before and she comes highly recommended by me.  Mr C kept me supplied with drinks and by the time I got back out on decks the ship was full of equally excited people.  The place was buzzing.

We unpacked and made our way to Crows for sailaway.  A nice table by the window, with Dave & Kath, Karen and Steve was very pleasant as we watched us turn in the basin and head down Southampton water.

Dinner this evening was at our usual table in the Medina.  We hadn’t had these waiters before and they did their job but we weren’t getting a lot of response from them.  But no complaints on the food.  Prawns, chicken and sweetcorn soup, roast turkey and I know I had a pudd but it escapes me what it was!

After dinner we headed for Champions to listen to Caravan and I seemed to be in and out of my seat every 5 minutes saying Hi to everyone that recognised me.

Carmens never really got going tonight as the show in there was busy and then they all left for other venues.  So we headed to Masquerades which was very busy and people were making the most of the party time.  I headed for my bed just after 2 and left Mr c having one for the road.  I wasnt best pleased when he rolled in at 10 to 6 as I knew I wanted to make the effort for once and get into Bruges.

Sunday 17th December.

Mr C knew he was in the dog house and was up and dressed a couple of hours after getting into bed!  We had breakfast in Medina which I always enjoy as its so much more relaxed.

We took the shuttle bus into Blankenburge and from there got the 10 past 10 train to Bruges for €3 each.  We only bought single tickets as were weren’t too sure what we were doing for transport back to the ship.

Bruges was lovely and it was my first actual visit as every other time we have been there I have stayed onboard ship!  We had a pleasant few hours wandering around, doing our own thing.  Had some mulled wine at the ice rink.  Then nipped into a pub for more mulled wine and beer, visited the chocolate and beer shops, ate some scoobies and then headed back for the train which leaves at 34 minutes past the hour.  This time it was cheaper at €2.90.  The journey is only 11 minutes and I don’t understand why more people don’t try it.  The ships tour department must be making a killing at £22 each and they drop you yards from the train station so you still have the same distance to walk into town.

We got back to the ship and just chilled out with a quiet drink in Crows before heading for a little snooze.

Big night tonight as its Formal night and Captains Cocktail Party.  Captains couldn’t make yit as they were busy on the bridge but it didn’t stop us taking advantage of their hospitality.  Their officers did a very good job of looking after us and kept us well entertained for the full 30 minutes or so.

We were joined at dinner by 3rd Engineer and what a fantastic host he was.  We had such a good time at the table it was brilliant.  He even tried to wake our waiters up for us but they were in their own little world, bless em.  I don’t know who was the more honoured?  Us, to have the only officer in attendance at dinner or him to have some fantastic passengers to dine with lol.  Tonight I had smoked salmon, soup but I don’t recall what flavour, champagne sorbet, roast beef, chocolate soufflé with grand marnier sauce plus the trio of Lemon deserts!

Im a very people watchy person and I didn’t see many envelopes or tips being handed out tonight and we left the restaurant quite late but I hope most did tip the lads as we did.

We missed Dave and Juliets grand performance in the karaoke but we were already enjoying the party in Carmens and it was full Christmas party atmosphere in there.  We enjoyed a few dances, lots of people watching and plenty of drinks.

All in all we had a fantastic time on Aurora and wouldn’t hesitate to do this party weekend again.  It wasn’t full of ‘corporate types’ hen and stag weekends or people who wanted to cause trouble.  I never seen any trouble or any out of hand behaviour and I don’t know why some people are so hell bent on painting such a bad picture of these cruises?

The ship looked superb.  The decorations were being put up as we boarded and I didn’t see anybody swinging from them,. stripping the trees, or falling into them!  The ships company were working flat out to give the passengers a good time and it was good value for money when you consider what you would pay for that sort of break on land at this time of year.

We met some great people.  Thankyou to all of you for introducing yourselves to me – seems Im more famous than I knew lol.

The dress code was upheld and even though the first night was smart casual the vast majority seemed to hedge more towards informal.  There were some beautiful dresses about on formal evening which all added to the ambience of the evening.

To anyone who has ever been put off by the comments of others who had pre conceived bad ideas about these party cruises, I would say don’t listen.  Take note of what we have all said about this cruise this weekend and go ahead a book because I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Finally Thanks to Dave & Kath Hellon for your fab company.  You made the weekend for us.

Click here to view my full slideshow

I know what your thinking- she went on alot of cruises in December 07. the answer is simple “yes i did”

I think that has to be one of the best short cruises that we have ever done with P&O.

Check in was already open when we arrived and we were straight onboard and the first into Goldie drinks. It was along session today and we made the most of it with superb attentive service from Thomas. Sandwiches were quite fresh when the first plate came out but over the next two hours or so we were given soggier and soggier ones!

I seemed to do a lot of dashing about from A to B before sailaway but no idea what I was doing.

Our cabin was in an excellent position, but oh dear, stale cigarette smoke hit us as soon as we opened the door!! Why P&O allow smoking in cabins is beyond me, but it’s the ignorant people who smoke in there that wind me up more than anything. They just don’t think about the repercussions it has on the next passenger. Alexander arranged an ironiser to be sent down to clear it and he kept coming back with the air freshener, but the smell was there. Even despite having fresh bed linen, I could still feel in the back of my throat everytime I woke up. You only had to pull the curtains to, to get a new waft of it. So not a happy bunny about that!!

Sailaway was slightly delayed by a family from the Isle of White who forgot their passports and had to return for them! They came legging it up the gang way at about 10 past 5. I haven’t seen prom deck quite so busy at sailaway for a long long time but then we were about to pass the new Queen Victoria. Mulled wine is always good on a cold frosty night and tonight was no exception.

We had fantastic company and as Jeannie has already said, great company at dinner with Jeannie & Malc, Dave & Kath Hellon and Vicki and David Yates. Im still waited with baited breath to see these ‘elevated menus’ that I keep hearing about, but I enjoyed the meals, and oh boy did we giggle at that table. Im sure people around us must have been wondering what the hell we were on!

Cruisa you have no idea what you missed at the 60’s & 70s night! We all commented that we had never seen so many people make the effort with the costumes, and oh boy did some people go to town on the outfits. There were whole families and large groups of people in the most fantastic costumes, all out to enjoy themselves. And the party went on until about 2 in Carmens before it continued in a very lively Masquarades. Im very pleased to say that Roger Gillespie came and tracked me down in here. Its always great to put faces to names. I managed Masquarades until about 2, but knew the clocks went forward so had to go to my bed. Mr C and Mr & Mrs Yates held the fort in there and continued to party until late or early as they case may be!

Not surprisingly Mr C had a little bit of a sore head in the morning and so we didn’t really do a lot in Rotterdam. We got the shuttle town, walked around the shops and that huge market taking in the sights, before taking refuge from the biting wind in a bar with a nice fire to keep me warm. We sat drinking mulled wine and hot chocolate with liguers and watching the ice skaters.

As soon as we were back onboard Mr C was under his duvet knocking out the Zzzzz’s. I went to Crows for a couple of drinks and sat catching up with Louise behind the bar. Then I was back into the Spa for my nail appointment.

Mr C was awake now and as we had both missed lunch we slipped in for a little of the wonderful ‘elevated’ tea. Oh yummy, toasted teacakes and crumpets.

Informal night tonight. Pre dinner drinks in Andersons and I managed to get by the bar this evening, but then I had made the effort to be a little earlier. Lovely to meet up with Peter and Sarah Monk at last and have a natter.

Tonights dinner menu always amuses me (we had this on formal night last cruise) Battered fish & chips, sausage & Mash or leek and potato pie! Not exactly elevated, but it went down very nicely all the same. It seemed especially stange as we had a nice bottle of Vintage pink Champagne at the table as a little aperitif.

We headed upto Crows this evening to listen to the sounds of Caravan. Has anybody not heard them do Bohemien Rhapsody yet? They are amazing!

Mr H was going to have an early night tonight in preparation for Bruges tomorrow, but something seemed to go wrong. Firstly Malc reappeared from nowhere so that was another round of drinks, and then we somehow managed to do a bit of a fly by in Masquerades and that was another set of drinks lol.

Arrival into Bruges was delayed by an hour or so because the sea was too choppy to get the pilot out, so the lads got to keep their heads on the pillow for a little longer.

We chose to go into Bruges on the Train. We paid the extra and went first class for €5 return each. (€3.90 for second class return) Sunday service is 10 past every hour and we had to leg it from the shuttle to make the next train but we did it.

Bruges was busier than I have ever seen it. It was just fab here – so Christmassy and cold but sunny it was great!  We found the chocolate shop that came highly recommended by Kath (and a few famous chefs etc we later found out) and bought a good supply for Christmas pressies. The Christmas market was in full swing and loads of people enjoying themselves on the ice rink. We had a fantastic lunch overlooking the square snuggled up by a cosy warming fire. Mr C made the mistake of ordering a large beer! LOL he didn’t know it was a litre. I had a mulled wine, complete with egg nog – oh yummy! Although I had already had a huge main course I wanted a waffle so it sort of rounded it off. Mind you after a very large wine and the mulled wine etc, it nearly knocked me sideways when I got outside. Then it started raining and we giggled our way back to the train station, but not before I stopped for yet more mulled wine.

Formal night tonight. Mr C found time for a snooze but I didn’t, and I made it to Andersons even earlier tonight. Still very busy though. Gala reception was up in Crows but I decided to stay put and was soon joined by Dave & Kath.

Another most enjoyable and entertaining meal in Medina with excellent dining companions.

We headed for the party in Carmens again afterwards and I think Mr H is still getting over the shock of the ents team lol. It was very busy but we managed seats at the front which suited me and Kath as we could do our people watching from here.  The bloke from Beat the Burglar’ was our guest speaker this cruise (his first one) and he was making an excellent job of working the room and dancing with all the ladies (maybe he was trying to impress Hughie who was watching from the back.

Caravan finished at about 1230 and DJ Gittos took over. When we left the room was still rocking. Somehow we ended up back in Masquarades (oh what a surprise) and it was busier than ever in here. I cant imagine what time the passengers stopped partying in here. We caved in at about 2.30 and it was still packed with people dancing and enjoying themselves. Even when it went to a cash bar they were still serving as fast as they could.

I still hadn’t packed a thing so there we are at 3 in the morning packing the case and getting everything sorted. In some ways I think it was better that way as it meant that I didn’t feel as if the cruise was over before I went out for the evening. It was hard work though at that time of night!

I went straight to sleep and never heard a thing until 7 the next morning. Somehow we made first sitting breakfast and we were ready to disembark by 8. in hindsight we should have kept the suitcase and done self disembarkation but we were off just before 8.30 and I could here the Captain doing his ‘Thanks for coming’ speech just as we walked across the car park.

Getting hime took forever (apparently) I closed my eyes as soon as I had directed Mr C as far as the A34 (hes still useless without Tom Tom woman!) and never woke up until we were pulling off the slip road for home. I then fell asleep on the sofa, he woke me up to go to Redditch to collect a new car, and I slept all the way there. And I was in bed before corrie! Bring on the next weekend!!

As I have said, thank you to all those we met for your fantastic company. Great to meet Peter & Sarah Monk and Roger and the lovely Collette.

It was great fun watching all the crew do double takes at us as we went around the ship and asking if we had actually been home – cant wait to see thir faces again next weekend lol.

The ship still looked remarkably good and Im sure she will look even better after her mini refit. Contractors were embarking like a team of ants. There was some heavy duty looking carpet fitting equipment being carried up the stairs. Beds were stripped back to the mattresses and soft furnishings were piling up in the corridors as you left your cabin for the final time. I know that a lot of upholstery in public areas were being replaced and you did have to look hard in good light to see that it was in need of a change. I believe that the cabins are getting their elevation with soft furnishings and bed linen and mattresses etc. most of the carpet is being replaced. The ship will also be re registered in Hamilton so that means that the aft of the shop and lifeboats will have to be re done. And of course she needs the new logo applying to the forward sides. I think that some of the Navigational equipment was also being updated. It will be nice to see the changes next weekend while it is all fresh and new. Hopefully they will also have the Christams decorations in place for us too.

A lttle bird told me that it isn’t Nigel Travis who will be taking over as Cruise Director from Hughie over the festive period. They have done some rejigging and one of my favourite CD’s is due to join the ship!

I will update you more following our return in a few sleeps time.

All in all, anyone who want there really did miss a fantastic short cruise onboard Aurora!

I’ll be honest this was only a very short trip so we didnt get around to taking many pictures but what i did take can be seen here and as always your comments are welcome below

Friday 2nd November 2007

We set off for Southampton as soon as Mr C came in from work. I expected a long delayed journey by heavy traffic but in fact we were there within 2 hours and 20 minutes. Check in at the Holiday In was swift and we were given a lovely room up on 7th floor over looking the Mayflower Terminal. But no time for a rest, we were on holiday now and pretty desperate fro a drink. Amanda & Mick were already in the bar, oh what a surprise! We had a couple of swift drinks and then walked along to TGI, to sample their ‘enhanced’ hospitality. We had eaten there the night before QM2 and vowed never to return, but they enticed us back.

It was Christmas in TGI so me and Amanda couldn’t stop ourselves from singing along and jigging around our long awaited Silver Mercedes. Service was certainly on the ball, but they seemed to have forgotten to warm my dinner up. Oh dear they had to bring me a Silver Mercedes while I was waiting. In fact we think we had 5 silver Mercedes while were there. And I suppose if we are honest, that’s all me and Amanda went there for. We enjoyed our TGI experience but we decided they will have to ‘entice’ us back again, and it wouldn’t be amongst our preferred list given any choice.

We had a rendevouz arranged at the DeVere, to meet up with Neil & Ged, so we slipped in there on the way back. Oh yes, we are going to have a fab cruise. Mr C is ‘overtired’ and decides to nod off in the Devere for 40 winks! Time to get him back across the road and into bed. He didn’t hang around and he was under the duvet snoring his brains out before I had got my coat off.

Saturday 3rd November

I really needed a good nights sleep, but as usual it didnt happen.I was awake at 4.20 and that was me done. I opened the curtains and lay back in bed keeping one eye on the window. At 6.04am the bow of Aurora crept into view and there she was all lit up in all her glory slipping into berth 106 very quietly without fuss.

Breakfast in the Holiday in was very good,.plently of choice but supervisor needs to take a chill pill. Mr C had a bit of a fight with the tomato sauce and splattered everything within 6ft of his plate!

Oh I need to get to my ship and Im like a cat on hot bricks all morning. 11.00 and we decide we can hold back no longer. There are quite a few people there already but we are there at the front of the Goldie queue. Within 20 minutes the entire snaking queue system was full and people and they were queuing outside the door. Even the Gold queue was starting to snake across the back of the building. Check in opened at noon and I was very impressed when they declared half of the desks available for Gold members. Within minutes we were in the departure lounge but our stay was brief and once we got new clipboard woman sorted out she allowed Gold members to embark the ship. Because we were carrying invitations to the Crows Nest for Gold drinks we were directed all the way. I had my bags carried for me by the lovely white gloved stewards. We sat at our usual table by the window and at last we could chill. The service was superb. Champagne just flowed and flowed and when we decided we couldn’t take anymore the lovely stewards arranged the drinks of our choice. At 3 we decided that we really probably had better go and check out our cabins, but that took all of 30 seconds and we needed some Scooby snacks so we headed for the Orangery for sandwiches, scones and tea. For November it’s a very pleasant sunny afternoon but there is no denying that it very drafty.

We return to the cabin and know that there is no getting away from it. We have to unpack, and what a marathon job that is! I simply don’t travel light and all of my stuff has to fit somewhere. Put it this way, it’s a good job that Lizy wasn’t with us this time, because there was no way we could have fitted so much as another stitch in our cabin.

Mr C had one of his super turbo power sleeps but I couldn’t manage it, but I didn’t have the strength or the time. We were most amused to discover that we didn’t have a safe. The funny thing was that the cabin steward didnt even know about it! It turned out that he was new on that section of cabins today and he hadn’t noticed either. He was very shocked to open the cupboard door to find it empty. Mystery was solved by the deck supervisor who explained that the last lady had broken it and it would be a few days or maybe a week before it came back – Mmmmm we’ll see about that!

Sailaway was delayed tonight. We are sure it was because they realised that they really did have to re stock the bars and have back up supplies which caused a bit of a panic when the checked the passenger list. But this was disguised by the fact that we had been granted special permission (loosley translated to ‘P&O have made a hell f a contribution to the Southampton Roundtable firework display) and we were granted special permission to sail late and then tootle up to the Mayflower Park and turn sideways on to block the river and watch the display. It was a most spectacular sight, with all of the city light up and the fairground and big wheel set up on the park. We had a very quiet and unceremonious sailaway from berth 106 with no band or even anyone on the dockside taking the slightest bit of notice of us, so as soon as we were away we nipped across to the starboard side and took up position along the rail for a grandstand view. At 7.30 we had a horn blasting session and that signalled the start of the display for the fireworks. It must have been the most spectacular sight for all of the spectators shore side with Aurora all lite up in all her glory with the firewoks in front and behind. We had mulled wine to keep us warm and and prom deck was buzzing. All in all a pretty spectacular sailaway.

Time to take up postion on my barstool in Andersons and top up with a few southern comforts before dinner. We had been asigned our usual table in the Medina – I think that is officially ‘our table’ now.

After dinner we trotted down to Carmens so that we could put our dancing skills to the test. It wasn’t exactly kicking in her but I was shocked when Hughie welcomed us into the room and bought us a drink!! I think even he was shocked when he realised what he had done and he had to go for a lie down. Caravan kept us suitably entertained with their tunes. Neil & Ged turned up just in time for a quickstep and before I knew what was happening I was doing what felt like double back sumersaults on every corner of the round dance floor! Blimey I felt like I’d had a crash course for an audition on Come Dancing! I look forward to perfecting my quickstep though before the end of the cruise. Neil had to go for a lie down after that spin on the floor lol. We continued to give the barstafff something to do for an hour or so before we headed for last orders in Andersons.

Cant go to bed without a visit to Café B for Scooby snacks so toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate it was. The two Mr C’s got most excited to discover that they served Horlicks and declared it the best drink of the evening. It was a long way back to our cabin and Mr C seemed to hit the mattress before I had even got through the door and be snoring his little brain out. That Horlicks must be strong stuff. Ive almost managed a 24 hour day. Awake since 4.20 and to bed at 3.30! pretty impressive!

Sunday 4th November.

Aaah a really really long lie in would have been good, but I was hungry and needed some breakie. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning – a lazy Sunday morning breakfast in Café B. the tea is always hot and fresh in here and its served with a smile. A lovely glass of orange juice and a warm cheese and bacon croissant. I had pre booked my nail appointment in the spa before we left the UK with Harding Bros and was amazed that I had been slotted in at my requested time. Mary Ann was lovely and did my nails beautifully, but the prices are a bit steep. Mr C had his hair cut as he didn’t have time before we left home – £30 for a gents trim!!!! Now that’s steep!!

We really didn’t do much for most of the day, just had a lazy day at sea with a relaxed and lazy lunch and a few drinks in Champions, just the way it should be.

I needed some sleep so we returned to the cabin so I could get my eyes closed for a while. But there was a note informing us that they had an outside cabin available if we wanted it! Fantastic news! I had given up all hope of an outside cabin. We had been on the waitlist for months but nothing suitable had become available. But due to a no show in Southampton a D deck outside was available. So we went and paid our money and were given the keys to our new pad and arrangements were made to move all our belongings. Ive done this before and it has been relatively easy, but this time around things didn’t go quite so smoothly. For one thing I don’t think they realised just how much stuff I had hanging in the wardrobe. My dresses alone took two lads 3 journeys! You should have seen their faces when they saw my shoe mountain lol. I had to make life easier for them and load all of my shoes into a large suitcase. The new cabin was missing a bedside cabinet, so one of those had to be transported upstairs. When we got there it didn’t match the other one, so they had to be swapped, And then to my horror, I found that all of Mr C’s shirts etc were on the wrong type of hangers for the new wardrobe so we had to swap all of those. The new cabin was roasing and despirte wedging the door open and turning the aircon down we couldn’t get it to cool down. The two stewards that moved us were excellent and they had a difficult job as the deck supervisor didn’t provide them with much in the way of trollies and dress rails. They had such a fight with the bedside draws, it was so funny (despite being tired) to watch them as they continually swapped the combination of draws to try and get them to fit. Eventually it was job done. I ran myself a well deserved bath and Mr C slept!

Captains Cocktail Party tonight but we cant let that interfear with our Anderson Pre Dinner drinks so we meet there at 7.30pm. Party was up in the Crows and it was a little bit lumpy but we didn’t spill any drinks. Always a great place to people watch.

Restaurant Manager has sent us a table host to try and rescue our table. Oh well that made for a little bit more of a jollier table. I haven’t noticed anything enhanced about the Gal menu but maybe that will come later in the cruise.

Afterward we go dancing in Carmens. Mr Gittos whizzes me a round for a quickstep and one of those poncy sequence dance things which just didn’t make sense to me. Maybe it was because my alcohol levels were up a little? Ooh I think we may have had a cha cha chaaa too!

Mr C caved in early tonight and was screaming for his bed, so off he trotted while me Amanda and Mick went to Crows for a nice chilled out drink and a natter. The waitress wanted to know where ‘my son’ was this evening. Oh hell, maybe that spa treatment this afternoon didn’t do me much good. I must be looking old. Poor girl was mortified when I told her that was my husband. Bless her it was quite amusing watching her try to back track lol.

Monday 5th November

Oooh I woke up this morning and could see the glorious sunshine out of our new window! We had a lovely view of the bay of La Corunna

I could quite easily have laid in bed for a few hours but as we are only here for the morning and it’s the last bit of land we should see for a few days we needed to make the effort to go ashore. A quick breakfast consisting of tea and pastry in the Orangery and we went for a stroll around town. It was 10.30 already but most of the shops and bars were only just openening. It will be time for siesta by the time they get the doors open and the floors mopped. We went back to the same bar on the front where I had a vodka last new year. Geee whiz it was even huger this time around. He might have well of just stuck a straw in the Absolute vodka bottle and left it on the table. Every one else had to have two rounds just to try and give me time to consume it. Only €18 though so it was a bargain for an hour sitting in the sunshine.

Back on board we headed for Champions where we had our first cocktail of the day this cruise!

Sailaway sounds on Pennant with Tropical Vision and it was helped along by sangria. Oh we had a few of those! Seemed like a good idea to phone a few people back home while they were at work too just so they could soak up the atmosphere with us lol

I just had time to trott along to Sidewalk café for an hawiian burger and while I was sat eating it out on the back deck a whale went down the Port side and then the starboard side – how cool is that?

Im having a bit of pampering this afternoon so I have to get a move on to be at the Spa for 2.30. I had seaweed wrap which I highly recommend. Exfoliation, mud wrap and massage with oils was all very relaxing and has done wonders for my skin and well being (so she tells me!). Hollywood Toes next with MaryAnn, so that’s it Im all glammed up and have lovely skin that will cope better with the sun and have toes that will look fab in sandals!

The whole experience (coupled with half a bottle of Vodka this morning washed down with sangria has left me drained and Im straight back to the cabin and under that duvet. That was it, I was zonked and off away with the faries. If mick hadn’t of phoned the cabin to let us talk to his singing dog at 6.45 I think I would have slept until 3 weeks on Wednesday!

It was a real effort to get up, showered and dressed this evening, but hey it has to be done. Pre dinner drinks n Andersons and then we had to face dinner again. It was very nice though and we washed it all down with wine and then after dinner Baileys and port.

60 & 70’s night in Carmens and it was packed when we arrived but we were in the right pace at the right time and some people were just leaving so we dived in there. 60’s & 70’s was excellent and we all strutted our stuff a little. Nobody seemed to have made the effort with with 60’s attire but it didn’t matter. Johny G was on full form and a couple of the ents team were giving it their all, all evening.

Amanda and Mick ducked out a little early this evening (well only compared to previous nights lol) and we were invited over to join Neil & Ged & Co. it wasn’t long before it was only Neil, Mr C and myself and what happened next cant even be put into words. It was one of those bizarre moments (moments bloody hell it seemed like hours at the time) where you just had to be there to experience it. It was priceless! I’ll try and explain but none of you will understand. Basically there were a coulpe who had been dancing all evening. Over the years they had obviously devised there own little routine on the dance floor which was pretty unique! Neil could resist complementing their dancing skills as they left for Masuarades and what followed next is still all a bit of a whirl. Before we knew what was happening they had both sat down and were telling us all sorts of snippets from their lives both at the same time, very fast with lots of animation, in a very broad Irish accent I might add!!! We went in a ford Anglia, in a plane over the top of the world, went through Huston airport, had a huge T bone steak, went to Futermeter (Fuetaventura) broke the safe, changed the batteries, went to reception changed her jewellery, woke up on the wrong side of Corruna this morning, went on a beautiful baby (Black Prince) went around the world and back again, we might even have gone to the moon – We have no idea, because Mr C had nipped to the loo with his camera (oh that set them off on a another tangent) and Me & Neil were the new married couple and well yes it was all very surreal. Just when we thought we had survived the experience they got up to leave, but no! He had something else to tell us which I think involved getting back on the plane and flying over the top of the world, but by this time me and Neil were helpless trying to contain the laughter that was trying to escape out of our earholes! We had to leave and we practically pushed them out of Carmens in front of us before we dived out on deck and collapsed in a heap of hysterical laughter. We couldn’t stop and I think we needed the medics really. Im sure if the cameras were on us code Blue was about to be called. We eventually calmed down enough to get the door open and try and compose ourselves for the walk a long to Masquarades. But oh no!!! There they were in the Casino talking to a waiter and we realised that as they left him they would walk out of the other door and bump into us! That was it, I was crawling up that padded curved wall opposite Champions bar! I was helpless. Tears of laughter just ran down our faces . Neil and Mr C were no better and we got some very strange looks from the few stragglers still sat at the bar! I have no idea how we made it to Masquares and walked past them to make it to the bar in one place. We darednt look around until we could see out of the corner of our eye that they had sat down with their backs to us! Neil had one drink but I could tell he needed to go and lie down after his mad experience lol. So me and Mr C had one or two more for the road. It was busy in here again tonight which was good. I think it was 10 to 3 when I caved in and dragged Mr C with me.

Tuesday 6th November

Why am I awake at 7.30? mr c made me a lovely cup of tea and he settled down to watch a film. Lol he wasn’t too impressed though when the end got cut short and he missed the punch line! I love it when P&O do that he he he.

Breakfast in Café B this morning. Mr C chose the eggs Benedict and I had a warm ham and cheese croissant – mmmm yummy! Washed down with chilled orange juice and some lovely hot tea. Oh yes, and I snook in a lovely fresh iced pastry too!

I spent the best part of the morning trying to get on the internet and sorting out my emails. Gosh I had a lot this morning and they took some ploughing through, but it was eased with a couple of cocktails to the sounds of Caravan in Crows.

It’s a lovely sunny day today and many people are out sunbathing, but I neither have the time or the energy.

Tapas lunch in Alexandria Restaurant today and we sat by the window watching the sea dance around us.

We decided on a game of deck quits or shuffle board to blow the cobwebs away, but the pros were all out on top deck so us fun loving people could have a go. We watched the cricketers for a while, and again I wondered why everyone takes these things so seriously.

Im shattered and know what I have to do. Yes time for me to go slip under the duvet, and its not long before im in the land of nod! Trouble is I have no idea of where I am or what time it is when I return to the land of the living.

Informal night tonight and we have the choice of ‘who wants to be an Auroraaire’ in Carmens. Vocalist Impressions Gary T Thomson in the theatre or Tropical Vision steel band in Crows. Im leaning towards Crows but we shall see.

Did a bit of social hostesing in Andersons pre dinner. It seemed that every other table knew me and I just seemed to flit around the room in a social whirl.

Geoff was on form tonight, but then he has been every night so far. Gypsy Rose Lee was sat at the one end of the bar much to his amusement. Dress code is very strictly adheared to in Andersons. Casual night they asked a gent to leave because he had a t shirt on without collar, and tonight there was a couple of incidents where the gent didn’t have a jacket on so they were politely asked to move. Quite rightly so! One couple were also giving Geoff trouble because they wanted a smoking table and there wasn’t any vacant, so they took it upton themselves to extend the section. Geoff was having non of that, and why should he? They have a large section of Andersons as it is and get too close to it and you can smell the smoke.

After dinner the boys needed some air, but as we hadn’t finished our liquers we sent them out onto Prom deck and agreed to join them for a lap of the deck. Oh dear we should never let them out on their own. We went out onto Prom and it was lovely, a little windy in places but still very pleasant. One side of the deck was closed for cleaning so we had to re trace our steps, but n sign of the boys. As me and Amanda thought we had said we were going to Crows for Tropical Vision that’s where we headed. No boys up there. We stuck our head in the theatre and Gary T Thomson didn’t over inspire us to want to stay, so we hit that idea on the head. On our way out we were stopped by the charming Captain who chatted for a while and told us how lovely we were looking etc then we wandered into Andersons with him, and our hubbies became a distant memory. But the boys cant survive without us for long and it wasn’t long before a search party was sent out in the form of Mr C. we were just on the verge of being invited to the Captains private lounge as well for tea and biscuits!

So where were the boys? In Carmens watching crappy Who wants to be an Auroraire! Silly boys!

I managed half an hour of it and then declared I was going to Andersons to talk to Louise. It wasn’t long before they all came out to join me. Mr C was asked to put his jacket on but Geoff obviously hadn’t noticed the scruff at the bar with his jeans on (no they weren’t nice designer jeans) above the waist he was adhearing to the dress code with jacket and shirt but not below. Oh I could have caused a riot lol.

We were going to go and sit out on deck for a drink in the fresh air but it had started raining so we headed to Crows for our nightcap. We seemed to hit a few lumps in the sea and we started to jump around a bit. It was late and I was tired so I turned in for the night, but Mr C went onto Masquarades.If he makes as much noise again when he gets back to the cabin, I wont let him out late again. Noisy Bugger!!

Wednesday 7th November

Didn’t have the best nights sleep after Mr C came in banging doors and draws plus the sea was throwing s around a fair bit. Got up early to do a bit of work in the cyber study but the connection speed etc was not great and it was trying my patience. Being on deck 13 in a bobbing sea didn’t help either. We blew the cobwebs out by doing a few laps of prom deck and then we found a nice sheltered spot by the Riviera pool where we laid in the sun and consumed cocktails of the day in the form of Harvey wallbangers. We had a nice lunch on deck washed down with a glass or two of wine.

Big sleep for me this afternoon while mr C watched tv and then slipped out to the Sundowner club with Dave Holden

Formal night with ladies night ball in Carmens, but mr c couldn’t take it and needed his bed

We headed u to crows for a quiet drink and sat there until 2.30 just putting the world to rites as you do.

Menu in café b changed today so we simply had to have chicken goujons and barbeque sauce mmmmm

Thursday 8th November

Somebody had my sun loungers this morning – must try harder tomorrow! But we still had nice loungers overkooking the Riviera pool, it was handy for the waiters passing by for our orders anyway. It’s a glorious hot sunny day so we just laze around soaking up the sun and not doing a lot else other than fetch a bit of lunch from Sidewalk café and sit in the shade with some nice wine, chillin out and taking it easy.

The wine jus about finished me off and I needed my bed. I had a really big sleep this afternoon and it was great. Trouble is that you have to wake up and try and feel alert.

Informal night tonight and pre dinner dinks in Andersons were arranged a little earlier tonight as we were dining in Café B to the sounds of Caravan and we wanted to make the most of our time up there.

We had our usual table by the band but much to my annoyance we had the officer on the next table who we had the misfortune to sit close to on the Pennant Grill last Caribbean cruise. He monopolises the whole of the restaurant staff and the whole evening evolves around him and flippin heck his laugh is annoying! But it didn’t spoil our night and we had one of the best evenings so far. Caravan were superb s usual and we danced between courses. We had one of those funny little ‘complimentary’ starter things and oooh it was funny! But I wont spoil the surprise for anyone travelling in the near future. We made a full evening of it with a couple of bottles of wine and liqueurs etc. Caravan nearly bought the house down with their finale of Bohemiem Rhapsody – Excellent!!

We had a little stroll out on deck before heading into the theatre to see Ruby Washington!! Yes, it was the same Ruby that Mick ‘pulled’ in Masquarades on the first night. Blimey she scrubs up well!! I thought her act would have been better suited to Carmens though, but having said that she did have a packed house, mind you I don’t think there was a lot else going on tonight.

We headed up to Crows to finish of the night quietly with a little nightcap or three.

Friday 9th November

Mr C was on a mission this morning to get me my sunlounger up by the pool, so at 6.50 before sunrise he was out there, closely followed by me.

I trotted down to the Orangery to get some tea and pastries and was surprised to find the hand gel man just standing there all alone waiting for someone to pass by.

It was a lovely sunrise on the port side at the aft of us! The sunbeams were coming up from the sea long before the huge orange sun did. I chose the next hour to go and get some work done and when I returned to the deck it was full of busy sunbathers.

We had a busy day today and at 12 noon we had Gold Portunus lunch. I wasn’t too impressed with it being on a hot sunny day and Im am tired of the event, but we went along any way. We were allocated a table of one old guy travelling with 3 ladies, there was also a single lady travelling alone, plus Andy Willard the Deputy Captain. He sat on my left and Mr C on my right. I could tell that the rest of the table couldn’t work us out and were intrigued how somebody so young could have travelled so much. We had an enhanced menu today and very nice it was too. The wine flowed and in the end we quite enjoyed ourselves considering we didn’t want to go. I think the DC had a nice time too and he commented that it had been a ‘different’ Portunus lunch.

I couldn’t wait to get back out in the sun and Amanda tells me I missed a fantastic lunchtime by the pool with Caravan. Ents are working overtime today because there was actually a choice of Caravan by the Riviera pool or Tropical Vision by the Crystal pool – cant believe it can you! Amanda say that Caravan had the whole deck up dancing, so now Im miffed!

The sun was glorious all afternoon and we were joined by Dave Holden. Mr C and he decided that they didn’t drink enough at Gold lunch and so were on a mission to drink the bar dry- boys!

I had work to do but still managed to fit in a little snoozle.

I had to make Mr C hang a round to help me into my dress tonight. It was like the Krypton factor to work out all the straps etc and it took us a couple of attempts.

Ooo we moved barstools this evening in Adndersons. It was busy in there, or appeared to be busier than normal because the photographer was in there doing portraights by the fireplace so she was taking up a lot of space. Im guessing that 90% of the passengers now have a copy of that shot on the sideboard though because she hardly had any takers.

Debbie our host never turned up for dinner this evening so we sat with an empty chair. I could have managed without dinner tonight but it was posh night so we felt the need to attend. I had a lovely tomato soup followed by chicken and chips which was good. Amanda had a nice looking Salmon type things wrapped in pastry and the boys had beef but im sick of the sight of beef! It was warm in the restaurant and I just wanted some air.

After a lap of the deck we sat and had a drink on prom by outside champions. It was a lovely warm breezy evening. Mick sat under a drip though and now he has salt stains all over his dinner suit. Last drink in Andersons and we all decided that we couldn’t take any more, so bed it was.

Saturday 10th November 2007

We were both awake at 5.30 so I decided that I might as well be awake and on deck so 6.20 in the dark, there I am in my bikini lol on my usual sun lounger. It was so lovely and warm and breezy it was just wonderful to lie there and wait for the sun to come up. It is a bit weird sunbathing with stars in the sky though. I get some right weird looks from officers and crew as they walk past but I don’t care. Even hand gel man wasn’t on duty this morning in the Orangery, but I had a nice cup of tea and I even nabbed a danish pastry while the lads were setting up.

It didn’t take long for the deck to start filling with towels and books. Some people go to extrordianry lengths to make their chairs look occupied and then leave them unattended literally for hours! At least I sit on mine.

As soon as the bar was open we had our cocktail of the day although there was some confusion as the barstaff thought it was a rum punch today, but the cocktail experts set them straight and we soon had Melon Ball chasers. It was so hot today that we had to have several drinks throughout the morning and then when Tropical vision started to play we had to have another cocktail. Two bands playing on deck again today. The duo were by the Crystal pool and we had the steel band. Has Hughie turned over a new leaf and decided to entertain the passengers?!

Barbeque lunch just about finished me off, or was it that last cocktail? I needed to sleep so that’s just what I did on my sunlounger. Only problem with that is that you wake up feeling really dozey. Well I do anyway!

I returned to the cabin to catch up with a bit of work and a few cocktails and then closed my eyes for another hour in preparation of the evening ahead.

We were invited to the Captains Private cocktail party tonight, so again we had to have pre party drinks in Andersons early (like we don’t get enough drink lol) we were greeted by Captain and Jane the Exec Purser and then Brian was hot on our heels with champagne. The little sausages were plentiful as were the suoper size battered prawns – oh yum, who needs dinner? We couldn’t drink the drinks fast enough and we were having trouble fighting them off. Staff Captain Andy came across to greet us and that was it we were officially late for dinner now! He is a lovely Deputy Captain, as is the Captain of course. At 10 to 9 we had to excuse ourselves from the lovely Andy and run down to dinner. Naturally they pushed me into the restaurant first to butter up Issac apologise for our lateness. He wasn’t too impressed but he got over it, and somehow he turned us around so fast that we were on sweets before others who got there on time. We cant help it if we are such social butterflies!

Not a lot happening tonight, but there is a bit of a deck party outside on deck 8 aft with Lahsoo Leanne! Mmmm…. Have to go and take a look at that then! I haven’t got the best of dresses on for a windy night on aft deck and its not long before its making every attempt to flutter up around my earholes. For some reason I have had a pencil and paper thrust in my hand to do a quiz. There are no seats and Im stood with my dress between my legs to stop the wind catching it again, trying to write answers to a quiz!. I spot seats one deck up and so now I have open stairs to negotiate too! But oh that’s better, I can put my drink down and relax out of the blustery wind. They were serving hot dogs and pizza out on deck tonight for the ho down, but who wants feeding after a big meal? There were plenty partaking anyway. I have no idea what me and Amanda found so amusing tonight, but we did anyway. We just sat and giggled and giggled and giggled. The line dancers take life far to seriously!

Sunday 11th November 2007 ~ Antigua

Oh dear just thinking about this day makes my head hurt. Im in Antigua, one of my favourite ports of the Caribbean and we are going to my favourite beach Darkwood! We are breakfasted early, after watching us berth alongside Oceana, and in a taxi on our way for a couple of hours on the beech. We have to do a bit of haggling to get the taxi to take us there at the right price without throwing in the extra bit to Nelsons Dockyard but we are soon on our way. Already its very hot. We arrive at the beach and as always its practically deserted. Just how I like it. There was one of the locals doing his early morning workout on the sand and the old man in his wellies sweeping out the bar/shack. He tells us to get our own loungers and it will all be sorted later. By 9.00am im in need of a rum punch and the man in wellies very obligingly opens up the bar and poors us 4 rum punches, with an extra kick for being the first to ask, and again tells us to sort it out with the owner when or if she turns up. At first I take a bit of persuading to get into the sea as Im not really a sea lover and there is a steep shelf drop to get from the paddling to the submerged stage, but I think the rum punch gave me the confidence that I needed! It was so hot I barely ventured out of the sea after that, but when I did I perfected the art of standing at the top of the sandbank and elegantly gliding into the sea, much to the amusement of others. My drinks were ferried out to me and I just kept on drinking while keeping cool from the neck down. Now in hindsight (oh what a wonderful thing that is) staying in the sea with my head uncovered in the blazing scorching hot sun wasn’t the wisest thing to do! But I will tell you about that later.

After a couple of hours people started to appear on my beach – I think there was 8 of us in total by noon, shock horror! But we had arranged for the taxi to pick us back up at 1230 so it was good timing.

Back at the ship, we washed away the sand and got a fresh change of clothes then headed back ashore. I had arranged to meet Justin and Phil from the other ship and they took no finding at all. The bars were full to the rafters of crew. We had a bit of a snack at one bar before moving round to the bright coloured bar on the boardwalk. After that it all goes a bit hazy, although I do remember ordering a cola so I must have been drunk lol. Neil came along and spun me around in an American smoothy or swing or something – anyway Ive see the photos so I know I did it lol. I have vague recollections of getting back to the ship and passing my favourite tanzanite jewellery shop. Mr C had promised me a ring from there, and to be fair he did offer, but I knew that I would struggle to stand up let alone choose a ring.

Back at the cabin it was dreadful. Someone had turned the spinning machine on and it was really going fast. I was happy when I passed out and was oblivious to everything else that followed. I was really cheesed off though when I realised that I had missed the big sailaway party with Oceana,. Id arranged to wave to people as well! Im in a right humph now. And to make matters worse I missed the deck party! Needless to say I didn’t make dinner. Mr C chose to order room service and oh what a palaver that is! He wanted soup, spaghetti bolognaise and fries. No matter how many times he repeated himself he just knew it wasn’t going to be right. Much to his amusement the ‘fries’ turned into a bucket of ice – that was the first of many blunders that room service made and they always amused us.

Monday 12th November 2007 ~ Tortola

Oooach my head hurts – funny thing that sun stroke! Ok I admit that I was drunk but I most defiantly had sun stroke to and it wasn’t nice as I shivered my way through the night, so that’s a hard way for me to learn a lessen

So today we are in Tortola. Its Micks birthday and there is no way Im missing the celebration. After breakfast we head along the front to the waiting taxis and negotiate a ride over the mountain to Cane Garden Bay beach. It think it was $12 return each but I might be wrong, however much it was it was a heck of a lot cheaper than the P&O service to the beach.

Our driver was Egbert and we amused ourselves by calling him Egg but no bacon lol. The ride over the hill was a spectacular one as always and he stopped for Mr C to take photos when we reached a high vantage point. Cane Garden Bay looked fantastic and Mick was well impressed by his birthday venue. Again we were there nice and early so there were very few people about and the beach was idyllic and at its best. As Im still suffering I take to the shade of a parasol, have my wide brimmed hat on and keep my tshirt on (too little too late?) I do little more than wander slowly along the beach to the end and back and venture into the sea a couple of times. By 1130 the beach is rammed and none of us like it when its like that. The tours are coming in and I dodnt think many more people will physically fit onto the beach, so its time to pack up our stuff and head to a bar for some early lunch. Mmmm honey roast chicken and fries and a glass of ice cold cola. Mick tries to convince me that if I have a vodka in it, it will bring me round, but I think the barman was on a mission to kill me with half a bottle of vodka. No I couldn’t do it and even Mick tried it and admitted defeat. I had to order another cola to try and water it down to an acceptable level.

‘Egg but no bacon’ is back to collect us and we are soon heading back up over the hill to the ship. Just as we did so the heavens opened and you could barely see a hand infront of you. Perfect timing! But by the time we reached the town the rain had stopped – just a typical Caribbean down pour.

Back onboard we shower and change and rendevouz again to go to Pussers Bar for Micks Birthday drinks. Ive had to find something that covers me from head to toe and will keep me cool so I look a bit like a grrek godess floating around the place lol.

Oh dear the smell of rum at Pussers bar about churns my stomach. I cant drink and I order cola again! Oh will the old janie ever return? The lads are progressing through the Painkillers working their way up to the strongest ones. Oh I can see this getting messy. Mick is quite happy to show us his dancing skills with Neil. Ged is singing, infact everyone is pretty merry apart from me. Eventually after what seems like hours I manage to drag Mr C out of there and we have a little stroll around the shops plus any jewellers I can find that sell tanzanite. Don’t see anything I like though so that’s not good. Just as we approach the seciurity at the dock gate Ged is doing a sterling job of keeping Neil on his feet but only just. Neil is declaring his undying love for Jason the security guard and I think they have arranged a date for the same time next year. Oh its so funny to be stone cold sober and to watch someone else be totally wrecked by rum lol. Neil you were terrific entertainment as Mr C saved you from the several bushes that attacked you and saved you from taking a closer look at the sea as we walked from side to side along the pier. How Ged got you from the lift to your cabin I will never know but I hear it didn’t take long for you to pass out. Ged was later seen eating for two at sidewalk café before going for a swim and declaring his undying love for everyone in the whole wide world.

Gosh I needed a rest after that. Wouldn’t dream of missing dinner and the Medina choir did Mr Crossland proud with Happy Birthday clap clap clap! Somehow the chefs thought he was 60 though as there was a big 60 on his cake lol.

Tuesday13th November 2007 ~ St Kitts

Oooooh Ive been bitten by a million trillion mossies and its driving me insane, so Im up at 5.30am and sat in the library working. You would think the internet connection would be better with everyone else asleep, but it’s as slow as ever and just eats the money!

We had a very quick breakfast in the baking sun on the aft f deck 12 and then I literally ran into town to find a pharmacy to get something for my bites – yes I had bought all sorts of stuff with me but nothing is having much effect on them. I couldn’t wait to get beck to the ship and I literally threw poor Angelo out of the cabin so that I could dive under an ice cold shower and cool my burning legs down. Liberal coatings of cream to each bite and a long flowing cool skirt to cover the patches of cream and we were ready to head back into town to see the shops. The duty free area is very nice, still under development, but it has a good range of clean air conditioned shops and bars. Venturing into town was a whole different experience with a few odd balls about. Mick and Mr C went back to find the pharmacy to get me some anti histamine tablets while me and Amanda shopped! Despite then walking to the back of town and back we were still in the same shop lol! But its 30+ deg outsider so we need a bar – purely for medicinal purposes so that I can administer my tablets. An ice cold frozen daquari worked very well to give us a bit of brain freeze and prepare us to venture back to the safe haven of the duty free area. Mr C is desperate to purchase a spear gun for his fishing and diving trips (yes he has had clearance from the security onboard to purchase and store In ships hold until return to the UK) and we have found a shop that sells them today, but it seems to be on Caribbean time. The notice n the door indicates that they open at 12. But at 12 they are on lunch until 1. and after that, well I think they just went to afternoon tea because we went back several times and they were closed! Never mind, it meant we had to pass the rum sampling bar more times which the lads enjoyed immensely. We went in there this morning so sample the rum cocktails but it was too much for my newly accuired delicate palate and I had to convert to water and diet coke again! Mr Gittos was having a nice time though and he never moved from his bar stool all day. He was still there an hour before sailaway when we nipped in for another drink. I do hope he made it back to the ship in one piece after his 2 units lol.

We bumped into Neil and Ged, oh neil looks just how I felt yesterday. At least I remember Antigua wher as Neil has no recollection of Pussers bar in Tortola at all. Never mind, he can read all about it and see the photos here lol.

Back at the ship, we miss yet another sailaway while we sleep. Well I say sleep, I think my tablets kicked me into a coma because usually the bow thrusters literally throw me out of bed, but I never heard a thing this evening.

Getting out of bed and ready for Andersons was a real effort but as the bar was calling me I made the effort. Geof is on fine form and Amanda and Mick are sat at the bar waiting for us. Gypsey Rose Lee is in her usual spot, but no Great Uncle Bulgaria tonight.

No Pat and Brian at dinner again tonight. Either they have discovered the delights of self service dining whch they feel more comfortable with or the one to one with Amanda and Mick the other night was too much for them lol. Issac wasn’t in the cheeriest of moods this evening, but he had had a hair cut so maybe he dint like it. I was hungry tonight but my little belly just didn’t want the food so I ended up leaving t to the human dustbin sat beside me.

The usual in jokes and stupidness kept us more than entertained at the table aided by some paint stripper disguised as red wine.

We are like excited kids tonight because we are going on a tour in the morning – yes I will get my first P&O tour sticker!! We decide t have a quiet drink in Crows listening to Caravan before we head for our beds. Well I say quiet, but we just don’t seem to be able to be quiet anymore. Oh we can laugh and laugh and laugh, but you wont find it funny so I wont tell you!

Amanda had some problems with the lift door on the way back down the decks but we presume she got off at her chosen deck ok.

Wednesday 14th November 2007 ~ St Lucia

Im up early again sat at ‘my’ desk in the Library working away and watching out the window for St Lucia to appear. We dock on the town side of Castraise and Im never too impressed with St Lucia, especially when we dock on that side. RCI Seranade of the Seas had bagged the best berth over by the duty free.

As we arrive its raining and looking very gloomy but we wont let it spoil our day. Its exciting this morning as I have to go and collect my first ‘Tour sticker’ for donkey’s years. It’s a red one! K1-2!! At 8.45 we are invited to disembark and join our catamaran. Thankfully it has stopped raining and we decide to sit on the nets at the front. We had just set off and waved at Sandra and all the other passengers on Aurora and were just pulling past Seranade when we suddenly turned around and headed back to our docking point. 3 passengers couldn’t follow simple instructions and we had to turn back for them! Sounds simple but when they had to turn the boat, dock it and secure it to allow them onboard it was more than a bit tiresome! So off we went again, waiving at Sandra and all the Aurora passengers yet again as we went. Now it could have been a lovely experience but the clouds were so thick and black and often filled with rain, so we were getting wetter and wetter. We just seemed to be heading out to sea but he did pull in to Marigot bay just for us to have a look.then after what seemed like an eternity the Pitons appeared in the mist. We sailed up to them bt they didn’t look impressive at all on a cloudy dull day and then we sailed off again back the way we came. But of wait, the buffet was open! We were handed a square of kitchen roll and invited to get a scoop full of mixed crisps lol. The rum punch was pretty undrinkable (yes I think Im still allergic to it) so I tred the beer but I don’t like beer so that was a waste of time lol. The swimming stop at Anse Cochon was errrm rushed and full of shell sellers riding around in boats insisting on pestering you. I didn’t swim but those that did seemed very rushed. It was a tiny bay with two other catamarans already there. The ride home was a long one and I think we can safely say that it will be a few more ‘donkey years’ before I do another P&O tour.

We decided to lunch onboard today and I went to see the Sanwich Man in the Orangery. He made me a lovely prawn salad on granary bread sandwich, which was a meal and a half.

We went a shore just as the heavens opened again, so we had a nosey around the duty free and then walked across to the other side. By now the sun was scorching again and we were struggling with our bit of a walk to the other side! But we made it. I bought some perfume and then we decided to get the water taxi back, but there was no sign of one and the natives were giving me the creeps so we had no choice but to walk back.

Straight into the shower to cool off and then time to get a little snooze in ready for tonight.

We are dining on Pennant Grill this evening and it’s a perfect evening. Very warm with a slight breeze. We met for Pre Dinner drinks at the Pennant with Dave Holden. That’s the first night we have missed out Andersons! Neil & Ged were also dining at the Grill this evening and I could see they had their eye on my table lol. We had a fab table by the rails but the down side was that you couldn’t see the menu or your food lol. The meal was superb but huge so we couldn’t even think about a sweet.

We eventually gained enough strength to waddle through to the deck part by the Riviera pool. Gosh they had pulled out all the stops tonight. Caravan were playing. Flower Garlands for everyone. The deck was laid out beautifully with tables and chairs everywhere. It was a great atmosphere but t had me beat and as much as I wanted to join in, my body said it couldn’t so I just topped and observed for a while.

Mr C needed to catch up with Ann about divng before we turned in for the night so we had a stroll through the bars in search of her. Down on deck 7 there was a sight I would never have thought I would see! Just as we approached the art gallery area a man dragged a woman through the sliding doors from the deck. A couple in there 50’s and she couldn’t stand up! She was dressed more appropriate for a day on the bank steps and her dress was up around her ass!! Not a pretty sight as he dragged her along the corridor. She fell into one f the window seats and I thought he was going to kill her! It was so embarrassing for the old coulpe sat in the next window. He rolled up his sleeves and F’d and blinded at her a few more times and then he said he would call security to her. So she struggled to her feet and then had to put up with her rear view again until he got her to the lifts. When the lift came he literally threw her in there head first and we just heard an almighty thud! I think her foot then got stuck in the door because they were fighting to get the lift door open again! Some passengers went into her aid, but they didn’t look like the kind of couple that I would want to help in a hurry! And they say the youth of today is bad!!

Thursday 15th December 2008 ~ Dominica

Mr C has a diving trip booked this morning so he needed to be off as son as we docked and he was indeed the first ashore. I decided to stay onboard and just chill. Well. Chll as much as is possible in 30+degs at 8 in the morning. Me and Amanda decided to do our chores and get the washing done. Amanda chose the tranquillity of F deck but I went to the A deck one. It was hard wrk to find a washer free even before 9 and I had to stand a nd wait while one lady unloaded her wash one item at a time shaking every pair of pants as she went. There was also another fruit bat in there ironing hankerchiefs. Yes she had a full load of just hankercheifs. But she didn’t think they were hers as hers where whiter than the ones she was ironing, but she thought she would iron them anyway!! Now who the hell puts the washer on for just a load of hankies? And would there really be two people on the same day doing such an extrodinary thing? Bonkers! I couldn’t wait to get back to my lounger on deck in the ‘royal box’ 30 minutes later I returned to swap the laundry into a drier, and 40 mins after tha I went back to iron the shirts and collect the dry items. Flamin hell there was a right washer woman in there taking command of the laundry telling who could have the next washer etc. She was dragging chairs around the place, telling people to move or sit down – it quite made my head spin! Why do people insist n standing around in there reading and getting in the way while the washing washes? Do they really think someone wants to nick their ‘big pants’ I couldn’t wait to get out of there and returned to the tranquillity of an empty deck and a large cocktail.

I managed the mad Caribbean heat until 1.00pm with various dis in the pool and then I went to shower and change and wait for Mr C to return. Perfect timing Mr C came back onboard right on queue and it wasn’t long before we were in a cab to take us downtown for $2 per person. I cant begin to describe how hot it is, its so hot the air is thick enough to eat and you can feel the sun burning through another layer of skin. I tried the tranquillity of the 3 main shops for air conditioning but only two of them were remotely cool. We went to our little yellow and blue café bar for lunch just as we had done last year. This time I decided on Jerk Chicken as I figured that it may be my last chance this cruise. Gee Whizz it was firey! It nearly blew my head off and my lips were burning. A strawberry daquari followed that staraigt down and then I got brain freeze! Mr C has been huntin at every port for a spear gun so we tried a couple of places as directed by the locals but came away empty handed again. Im convinced that it was just one of the locals that bought us back to the ship and not a taxi as such, but we arrived safely and it only cost us te same as before, but I reckon they all were jumping on the band wagon too earn a few bucks. Dominica isn’t the nicest of ports, but to be fair I have never been anywhere else on the island and they do say its beautiful so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. My vsit here wouldn’t be complete without a lok in the cattle shed across from the ship with all the locals selling their souveniers. Last year I found some tasteful bits of tat, bu this year nothing. But its so so hot and shopping in this sort of heat is never a good idea.

Back onboard and I head to the cabin to the tranquiilty of the air conditioning, but a s soon as we opened the door we were hit it a blanket of heat! No air conditioning in zone 2 – our area. It was unbearable and 3 calls to reception only told me that the ventilation officer was working as hard as he could to fix it. Im told later by the Staff Captain that the whole incident was caused by stupid people in balcony cabins who insit on propping their balcony doors open during the day and it just sent the air con unit into overload. So if you have a balcony cabin be a bit more considerate please!

So yes, anyway, how come I was speaking to the Staff Captian? Or my mate Andy as he is now known lol. Well, we got invited along to the Capatins private drinks party and we were flitting from Captain to Staff Captian in conversation, inbetween eating battered prawns or little sausages and drinking champagne (yes I know it doesn’t sound the perfect combination does it?! Oh but it was a superb little party which we could have stayed at all evening, but we decided the Staff Captain had delayed us enough and we giggled our way to dinner. Oh dear it was gone 10 to 9 when we rolled into dinner but we think Issac has just about forgiven us now, well I hope he has! What made it worse was that the other couple had turned up to dinner after many nights away – oops!

Friday 16th November 2008 ~ Barbados

I was just up on deck in time to see us coming into dock behind Arcadia. We turned and berthered stern to stern with her. We sat and ate breakfast on the Pennant in the glorious sun as they dressed the ship in flags. It was turnaround day for Arcadia and everyone was dressed for their long flights home to cold UK.

We had an early start today as we had a lot planned. Getting a taxi was a bit of a nightmare as they had a Barbados version of Clipboard woman, or in this case clipboard man! He was the boss and he decided who was getting in what cab and how many were going to get in etc. Eventually our little bus filled up and we were charged $5 per person for the short trip to the Boatyard. We were early but that’s the way we like it. We get the beach and the sea more or less to ourselves and our choice of sun loungers. The sea was a bit cooler than other ports we had been too, but it was refreshing and by no means freezing. However the rain shower that turned into a major down pour was freezing and very heavy. For some barmy reason I decided I would sit it out on my lounger while the others went into the sea. You see I thought it would blow over realy quickly and if I just sat shielding my bag, all my stuff would be protected. Wrong! Everything just got drenched. But as soon as it was gone the sun was frying us again. Mr C got me & Amanda two long island iced teas to recover but they blew our socks off! We had to send him back to the bar for a glass of coke to try and dilute it a little. By noon the place was filling up with crew and many other passengers so we called it a day and headed back to Aurora for a quick shower and change of clothes. Next mission was to walk into Bridgtown for some lunch but the other side of the port authority gates we were hassled until we took a taxi for $2 per person. He showed us to a nice place to eat but we decided it was abit to local for us! Food looked good but it resembled a roadside café or truck stop so we walked up to the Marina and chose an excellent bar with live music and good food. Mr C had the hugest breaded shrimps I have ever seen followed by the chicken kebabs which were excellent. Mr c is still on a mission to find a spear gun and he has been told where is the best place to try. It took no finding at all and he was in his element! A wall full of sear guns for him to choose from. I think we are all experts in spear guns by now andnow exactly which is the best diameter elastic to go for etc and feel as if we know each model well enough to give a demonstration. We asked for it to be boxed as we knew it had to be placed in the ships hold for transportation back to Southampton. Getting it past the local port authority was a bit scare but in the end I think he just gave up and let us through. Back at the ship all security were well aware that Mr C was trying to purchase such an item and it was placed in the safe hands of the security team to besafley locked away in the hold.

Spear Gun safely locked away we have abou an hour to check out the duty free shops so we jump back in the shuttle bus back to the duty free area. I was on a mission to use up every last dollar that we had, but I didn’t do very well. I could have spent it all on cheap booze, but I couldn’t see the point in risking going over the limit and getting caught at Southampton, so it was perfume, rum cake and little nic naks and we still came away with a fistful of money. I checked out every bit of tanzanite on sale in the area but it was all rubbish. Dave & Julrs asnd co were boarding Arcadia today so we nipped outside to the bar to say hello. Oooh gosh they all looked done in, which clarified even more to me that a Caribbean fly cruise wasn’t for me. We made it back to the ship for 5 and headed up to Penannt Bar for sailaway. Johny Gittos was on full form for a big British sailaway ansd we blasted Arcadia with last night of the proms and more, we waived our flags and shouted louder than them. Sailaway cocktails were flowing thick and fast and a little shower threatened to spoil our fun at one point, but it soon blew over. There was a little bit of a last minute delay when some passengers duty free purchases turned up on Arcadia instead of Aurora and officers were running up and down the dockside from one ship to the other in a right old panic shouting into there radios for us to throw back out a gangplank. All packages safely onboard and the lines were slipped and Land of Hope and Glory was cranked up as loud as Gittos could possibly get it. Arcadia did look fantastic all lit up but Im sure that we looked 100 times better with our fantastic tiered wings full of flag waving fun party people. I don’t think tgere was a dry eye in the house as we slipped away and Arcadia got further and further away from us.

Sailaway and the whole day had left us totally exhausted and we were undecided between the Indian buffet and just staying in with room service. Shock horror we opted for staying in and watching TV and having room service. Now all was going to plan until I was sent for a bottle of water and to inform the restaurant that we wouldn’t be dining tonight. I did as I was told, but and this is a big but, I swung by the shop s for a little nosey around. All of the shoppies are lovely and all asked about my day etc. I suddenly realised that I had never loked at the jewellery onboard, that’s something I would only usually do if Mum was onboard because with her its part of her daily ritual. I glanced at the diamonds, then around to the emeralds and then there it was – a Tanzanite ring that just caught my eye. Garth the very obliging jeweller lifted it out of the display and the rest s now history. It was perfect, a 1.5 carat tanzanite surrounded by a diamond setting. Oh my head was spinning. I needed Mr C to come and have a look at it but he was already in bed and watching TV for the night. Garth did his full sales pitch on me, but he didn’t need to as I was already in love with it and then he showed me the certificate which is unique to every stone. OMG he was bursing with excitement! This stone turned out to be classified as Vivid exceptional intense. That’s the highest grading that any tanzanite can ever be given and it is the first stone he had ever seen to be awarded it. Its such a deep perfect blue, which is what I had been looking for all along oh and the diamond setting was just more than I could have wished for. I nearly ran back to the cabin I was that exited, but Mr C was too busy having a dickie fit about my long abscense and long wait for the bottle of water to be interested in a ring. Oh but I had to convince him that he needed to get up and get dressed to go to the shop. He knew he would have no peace all night so we agreed we should go to the Indian Buffet instead of having room service (I didn’t want any food really but it was the only way I could get him out to the shop) I had a re shuffle of rings already on my finger and oh dear, it must have been fate as the ring fitted!! Oh what was I to do? He said he would buy it me but it was a lot of pennies so it needed lots of ‘thinking about’ it was agreed that the ring would be removed from display for an hour just incase it caught anyone elses eye.

The Indian buffet was lovely but I could hardly concentrate. We sat wth Neil & Ged as tables were very hard to come by. The place was packed and a lot of officers had suddenly crawled out of the woodwork making saets at a premium.

The decision was reached it was back down to deck 7 to the jewellers for my ring – eeek! I was sooo excited. Right who can I flash it too? Everyone is in bed. Geoff was behind Andersons so he was a good one to appreciate jewellery, but there wasn’t anyone else around so after one drink we decided it really was time for bed. We went out for a little stroll on deck and in the distance I sptted another couple down the deck who had been looking at a yellow diamond in the shop at the same time as us. They loved my ring and made a nice fuss so I went to bed a happy bunny and like a big kid that had just got what she wanted for Christmas!

Saturday 17th November 2007 ~ at sea.

This is the first day of cruise – week 3. the start of our cruise back across the Atlantic. As usual im up and out on deck for 6.30 and waiting for the sun to rise. Anybody who doesn’t get up early and experience the whole ship waking up really is missing a treat. I think it’s the best part of the day. I see the same members of crew every morning going about there business. It might be deck or engineering officers just finishing or just about to start a watch and the are heading to the Oranagery for some breakfast. Or there is one of the deck hands who every morning religiously wipes every piece of hand rail along decks 12 and 13. and when he has done that he sweeps all of the water out of the gutters and down the drains and then wipes them clean with a cloth. He is always cheerful, always acknowledges me and just carries on regardless about his business.

The sun is now rising on the starboard side forward where as on the way down of course it was port side aft. It was quite blustery but never the less a very hot sunny day. Melon Ball was cocktail of the day and Brian or Thomas know to bring me one as soon as the bar opens. We ad a lovely lazy day just lying around and soaking up the sun, which is what we needed after the busy ‘week 2’ ashore flitting from one caribean port to the other. Barbeque lunch at the Pennant and we all sat dining by the Riviera pool listening to the steal band. It had been such a busy day that I returned t my lounger and promptly fell asleep. Oh I hate it when that happens and you end up waking up not knowing where you are. Time for my afternoon nap and at 2.30pm I relinquish my loungers in the Royal Box to who ever would like them next. We have a meal booked on Pennat tonight for 7.30 so we ned to be out early too.

I had a cooling shower and salipped under my duvet into a deep deep sleep. What a good job Amanda called up at 10 to 7 or we would have been out for the count for hours longer. I hate having to get dressed and tidied up when im half a sleep but I had to get a shift on. We met at Pennant for 7.30 and it was yet another warm balmy evening. Neil & Ged were also ding out wit Wendy and Phil so we partook in quiet a few pre dinner drinks at the bar. Neil loved the ring but Amanda chose to admire my newly painted nails instead much to every ones amusement!

The meal was yet again superb, but Tropikal Vision needed to play a little softer as we couldn’t hear our selves speak. Resaturant Manager tried to have a word with them but they kept creeping the volume up a little more, it wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t sing because the cant sing, but they fnished there stint before we finished our meal so it wasn’t so bad. Mr C had the Grilled Seafood platter for the extra cover charge and it was huge and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I had scotch broth, fillet staek which just melted in your mouth followed by a fresh strawberries brandy basket, washed down with coffee and liquers. I even managed one of the scrummy handmade chocolates. We went for a little treck around the ship. Carmens had only 6 people in. the karaoke in Champions was more well supported but oh dear the singer put us off that event. 4 were in Masquarades and Andersons was deserted. Buddy Hollie was on in the theatre but Oh Boy! We had heard the dance troop weren’t one of the best but lets just say they need more practice! Side stepping intime for the girls was even too much to ask, and singing and dancing at the same time wasn’t something that they had particually mastered yet. We waited for the next song but it just sent us running for mercy.

We headed for Crows where Shades Duo were playing and they are lovely to listen to. Amanda’s ‘warmed’ brandy caused us much amusement, but then it doesn’t take a lot to amuse us really. We have yet another giggly hour or so over a few drinks before we head to bed.

Sunday 18th November ~ at sea

The clocks went forward last night but I was still up for a lovely sunrise at 7. the sun was just rising nicely above the railings of deck 13 when we hit a bank of thick cloud. Occasionally it found a little tiny hole to creep from and it was scorching, but it lasted moments before it disappeared again. I was ready to cal it a day by 8.30 but suddenly a clear blue sky was spotted and glorious sunshine returned. Brian insisted that I have a super size strawberry daquari to start my day and very nice it was too. I had my whole day planned. I intended to just chill there until 2 and no later but lets just say that things didn’t quite go to plan. The cocktails just kept flowing as well as our usual quantity of laughter and giggles. The boys went off to the bar for their ‘Sunday afternoon drink’ and we played versions of Give us a clue everytine we wanted a drink. The most strenuous thing I did all day was visit the Aurora Sandwich man for a prawn salad sandwich. Oh and I did climb the steps to deck 13 to watch the flying fish. They were great and they had a little formation team out there with fish fling out at all angles.

Mr C took me into the pool. I needed a lifeguard as occasionally we hit a bit of a dip in the sea and the pool wave machine automatically switched on. I don’t like it when that happens and don’t find it any where near as exciting as some of the passengers.

Me And Amanda decide we would quite like to venture into the Jacuzzi but it was presently occupied by some rather annoying crew who were being particually loud. We gave them about 20 minutes and then decided we would have to get in for them to get out. But oh no, the crew in question had other ideas. Amanda had to force her way in and by the time I turned around from ordering a drink from Brian there was sniggering all round. One of the lads glared at e like I was dirt on is shoe so I had to comment and ask what that look was for? Yes I was mad, and he had chosen to cross the wrong passenger. They obviously thought it would be smart to crowd us out in the Jacuzzi and continued to talk louder and louder and look down there noses. Even when Mr C came across to take a photo they made no effort to move. Mr C went back across to the our loungers but he could see the steam coming out of my ears by now and it took him to come and join us in the Jacuzzi being lounder than them for them to realise that they had been out whitted. Deck privileges are one thing but abusing them the way they were was just a joke. Never mind I will have the last laugh!

At 3 we all turned in and called it a day. We needed our rest after our busy lazy Sunday! I consulted my social diary wall and tonight we have Portunus Party in Carmens. Mr C set the phone to wake us at 6.30 but I somehow managed to regain conciousness on my own at about 20 to 6. I ran myself a nice hot bath with some relaxing oils and just laid and soaked for a while. Make up and hair complete and we rendezous for pre party drinks in Andersons before making our way to the party. As nice a s the Captain is we couldn’t be bothered to queue so headed for the fast track route on the port side. Brian and Thomas were on a mission to supply us with as much champagne as possible. One of Darrens Engineer friends spotted us and he came across to chat. In fact we ended up with 3 officers between the four of us. Two Daves and Zoran. Mr C was chating to his officer about a job at sea, oh wouldn’t that be fab if he came to work at sea? Dave reckons that with his qualifications he could come straight in as a 3rd ETO and that means wife can travel for 4 months of every 8 month contract. Oh yes please I have to convince Mr C that that’s what he wants to do. Captain Hutley decided he wasn’t even going to make his speech until 8.30 so there was no way we were going to make dinner on time. Captain of course came across to say hell to us after his speech and we let him get away without a photo this time around. We knew that {Pa and Brian were dining in the Pennant so we didn’t really rush, but we had forgotton that our Host would be in attendance as it was a formal night. Oops!

Dinner was superb. Tomato & Gin soup for starters! Mr C had the lobster sea food platter and we had the stuffed rack of lamb. The choice was vast tonight but there is only so much food I can take.

Black and white ball in Carmens and the boys were not getting out of it tonight. We settled down in ouyr seats but I spoted Staff Captain at the bar and as I was still seething at the Jacuzzi incident I had to go and have words! He wasn’t at all impressed with his young officers and their deck privileges actually alow them to use the facilities but if any one othe passenger enters the Jacuzzi they are exected to leave, so crowding us out and making us feel uncomfortable was something they will now unfortunately have to pay for tomorrow. A hard way to learn a lesson for them and I don’t like to spoil anyones fun, but when its at my expense then they need to be bought into line

We managed quite few of the dances tnight in our own little way and it wasn’t long before we were joined by our own personal dance instructor Neil. Cha cha cha’ing in a dress with a long flowng train wasn’t easy but hey we got there. The waltz was much easier to cope with and a lot more graceful. We somehow managed to keep ordering drinks and chattering long after the room had emptied and been cleared and closed. As we left Champions was closed and all n darkness and we never expected to see anyone in Masquarades but it was packed and kicking. Many of te officers were also still out. Neil and Amand had an American Smooth on the dance floor (that’s a dance not a milk shake) and well we were either dancing on the dance floor or dancing n our own ittle area. None of us could stand still. Ged apeeared from the mist of th casino and even he was strutting hos stuff. Oh te night just went on and on until something silly like 4 in the morning. We had a great night but there is no way we could do that every night – Im not as young as I used to be lol and anyway our days are long and fun enough for us to reach burnout by 1. Me and Mr C did last slightly longer tha the rest of the gang and mr C insisted on dragging me to Café B for horlicks and toasties but I downed my hot chococlate dint have the patience to wait for scoobies so I trotted off to bed.

I wasn’t expecting the surpise that greeted me on the bed, but Angelo had surpassed himself tonight. It then had to wait for mr c to catch me up and see what we had on the bed!

Monday 19t November ~ at sea

The sun is blasting through the curtains but I just cant bring myself to get out of bed. Time to let someone else have te royal box for a while and anyway I think my skin could do wth a rest from the sun. and anyway its Monday and I have work to catch up on, but not before a big lie in. it ended up being a very lazy day indeed. We ordered room service at 11.30, chicken and bacon salsa baquette with fries and didn’t get up until 12.30. I spent an hour in the Library working followed by a coffee in Crows. We had a walk along deck 13 in the glorious sunshine (and to observe who was in ‘my chair’ lol) stopped by Pennant fro a bottle of water and by 2 we were back in bed and I was sleeping within minutes. Rumur has it that Amanda and Mick were equaslly as lazy, with the exception of Amanda who spent 20 mins in the gym working uo a sweat. So this day is now officially known as Lazy Monday!

My social diary wall informed me that we had yet another private cocktail doo to attend this evening as well as a booking in Café B for the Caravan music night. We cant miss out on our pre dinner drinks in Andersons so we met up at 7.30 on our usual bar stools. 8.00pm and Martin Elliot Chief Engineer has invited us to his private cocktail party in the Uganda. It was nice to see Martyn again as he had only just boarded in Barbados doing a swap with the other chief engineer. Cheifs doo is always a little select affair and the driks were flowing thick and fast almost too fast for Amanda to cope wth but she has been putting in some good practice lately. Lots of canapés and little sausages too and I could have stood there nibbling on them all night rather than go for a meal. But sadley we have to pull away at 8.45 and head for our table in café B. Caravan were as excellent as ever and rounded off the night with Bohemiem Rhapsody which nearly bought the house down again, of course we all shouted for more and they obliged. The meal and service in café b were once again superb. All that we could really manage afterwards was a little waddle along to Crows for a nightcap or three.

Tuesday 20th November ~ at sea

Oh heck ive hardly managed a wink of sleep and Im full of cold. Where did that come from? I cant wait to get outside to see if it’s the air con that’s preventing me from sleeping and at 6 im back in the Royal Box. The pool is going berserk today and has already been netted off. Ive defiantly got an attack of fu and it takes me all my time to collect a cup of tea from the orangery, but I couldn’t even manage a blueberry muffin today. Even the fresh air cant clear my head.

The sun rises and it’s a glorious hot sunny day again with a slight westerly breeze.

Clocks were advanced 1 hour at miday to 1300hrs. the first two hours ere advanced during the nights of Barbados and the following day but the captainb gave us a choice of how and when we wanted te other hours advancing and we opted for today and tomorrow lunch time.

Scrummy fish and chips for lunch and then I had to go in search of medication. Synex nasal spray sorted that out enough to allow me to breath and two nurofen are working on my thick haed as we speak.

Soacial wall advises me that we have arraged pre dinner drinks with Barry and Celia this evening in Andersons. Geoff seems a little put out when we move away from the bar to the comfort of a sofa but cant expect guests to perch themselves on a barstool!

Dinner was like pulling teeth tonight. Our two table companions were back but I didn’t have the patience and left Aunty Amanda to chat to them. How come on the odd occasions that we agree to a shared table we have boring passengers? They haven’t enjoyed their cruise and didt like the caribbean and wont be coming back to P&O, its too formal etc. Give me strenghth! Why don’t people read the brochure when they hanbd over their cash?

I think dinner must have all bought us down to their level as none of us had the energy or enthusiasm aftyer that to stay up for long. We had a drink in Crows and then headed for bed. It tried the wet flannel hangingf in the cabin trick tonight to try and keep my nasal passages open and hey presto it seemed to work. Trouble was that I couldn’t sleep and I nearly sent myself doo lallly!

Wednesday 21st November ~at sea

I rose just before sunrise and headed for my lounger in the royal box. I could see that we had had a shower of rain but it was still warm and when the sun rose it was lovely and hot and sunny. But it wasn’t long before the rain clouds returned and I had to run for cover. I just sat and watched as the towels etc got drenched. When the sun came back out I was gorgeous but the sunny spells were getting less and less and I didn’t have the patience to wait.

Went and had a nice coffee in Raffles and then had a wander until we ended up in Katchyfrazes in Champions. I cant say that we were really playing along, some I got and some I didn’t. Amanda a nd Mick soon found us but one pina colada cocktail of the day was enough for me so I went to change for lunch.

We had a nice table for 4 in Café B with a ‘wine of the cruise’ to wash it down. Chicken tikka wrap was yummy, if a little on the fiery side.

Now all I can say about this afternoon is that we were very privaliged! And wow, the ‘virtual’ bridge tours are very realistic these days lol. Its good to have friends in high places and we met a very interesting character from Olden called Brian!! I sure the photos will give it away, but it was a fab and very interesting afternnon.

Back outside the sun was blasting across the open decks. We walked along deck 12 and shock horror there was a woman sunbathing in my chair in a very grubby looking grey dingy bra! Oh really, standards are slipping! People were looking at me as if to say ‘come on the suns shining get back out here! But it involves effort to get changed etc and im getting very lazy.

We wander down to the aft end and observe the strange goings on of various people back there. I spott the ‘man in a suit’ that Neil is always telling me about and also the twins from ‘Maid in Manhatten’ are swimming in syncro in the pool complete with full makeup, bright red lipstick and pearls! Oh yes we have had them all on here this cruise!

As we head down the aft stairs we smell the chocolate of chocaholics buffet so it would be rude not to take a look. The strawberry chocolate fountain looks delicious. The rest of it looks equally delicious but I cant stomach it. We opt for 3 chocolate dipped strawberries and I carry them back to the cabin.

A nice long snooze before dinner.

Formal night tonight and we all seem to be ready a little early as we meet for pre dinner drinks in Andersons. Hughie announced that they had just got coverage of the England game on Sky so many departed for the big screen in Carmens. Mick was tempted but didn’t cave in – until he had finished his main course.

Our ‘host’ never turned up for dinner again! Issac had set a place for her and he didn’t receive any info to say she wasn’t coming again – tut tut!

It was a rather strange menu tonight for a formal night but scrummy non the less. Beer battered haddock and chips, sausage and mash or chicken and leek pie! Hardly an ‘elevated’ menu but it was the first time I had eaten all of the meal for a long time. It was, however, very strange sitting there in best bib and tucker and eating fish & chips! Another ‘wine of the cruise’ washed it down followed by the now obligatory after dinner liquer.

Carmens Ball wasn’t that well attended tonight but maybe that’s down to the irritating Scottish dance instructor hosts who insit on killing every dance and clearing the floor everytime the band stop playing. Caravan look so frustrated sometimes. Only one of the ents team was present and she was buy socialing with another couple. I do like to see the ents team in attendance and dancing with the passengers. However Mr Chadwick and Crossland excelled themselves tonight and led us around the floor for many a foxtrot waltz and Mr C even got the hang of the quickstep at long last!

The ball was over at midnight so we had to go in search of more entertainment. Somehow we ended up in a very smokjey rowdy Andersons bar! There was a large group of heavily smoking singing passengers commanding every ones attention. Geoff had apparently left because he couldn’t be doing with it and Palav was just letting them get rowdier and rowdier, probably because the bar supervisor was there joining in with them but it wasn’t the ambience of Andersons that I expect. Goodness knows what they would have been like if England had won tonight?

Andersons bar closed and Amanda and Mick headed for bed. I wandered down to masquerades with Mr C and Dave Holden but I decided it was time for bed. I insisted that Mr C escort me to bed as there are a few too many dodgy characters about for my liking and then he returned to the nightclub, so I will see what tales he has to tell.

Thursday 22nd November ~ Madeira

Mr C didn’t have any thing exciting to tell me from last night other than there were chicken goujons on the menu in Café B!

Clever old Captain has got us an extra couple of hours in Madeira and we wil now depart at 3.00pm. its a lovely hot and sunny morning and the sunrise over the hill was amazing. Breakfast on the Pennant had a bit of a chill in the air but then we were sat in the shade. Nothing much on the agenda for today except to just walk into town and take it easy. There was the usual shuttle bus into town but I always like to stretch my legs a little so we walked past Island Star and round the dock past the Europa. The decorations were being put up in the town and there were men climbing trees to cover them with the pretty lights. The main decorations were already in place and I cant wait to see them all light up again at New Year. Mr C always seems to be on a shopping mission just lately and today he wants camera stuff and a bits for his new precious spear gun! Funnily enough we didn’t see any such shops as I wander through the old and new town. We walked back along the front and down to the bars and restaurants in the harbour. We spied Mr & Mrs Crossland walking the other way and then we just sort of decended on a restaurant for a drink sitting in the blazing sunshine. At one point the clouds did roll over the hill, but they were soon swept back out to sea. ‘A drink’ turned into many accompanied by food. I think Me and Amanda sampled a couple of glasses of wine, followed by beer and sangria. Fish was the main speciality of this restaurant judging by the large tanks of live fish, crabs and lobster, but we are simple folk (or in other words we were sick of the sight of food and wanted simple food) but the pizza was yummy!

We were very conscious that time was ticking away and 3.00pm was getting closer, but if you ignore the time its as if it wont really happen isn’t it?. But after leaving it really a little later than we should have, we headed back to the ship on foot as we gathered we wouldn’t make the last shuttle at 2.30pm. Mr C decided he needed to use the little boys room half way back so he ended up jogging to the ship in desperation. Meanwhile we walked and talked. We chatted to an older chap on Island and I think he grasped that I wouldn’t choose to cruise on there! I will confess that as Aurora got closer my heart did drop a little as I couldn’t see a gangway! Yipes!! But then I realised it was only the main gangway that had gone and the little gangway was still there – phew!! But when I looked behind me I did realise that we were actually the last people so in effect they were waiting for us – Ooops! Mr Crossland tried to be polite and allow me up the gangway first, but I insisted on being last. Then he tried to out witt me again by forcing me to scan in before him lol. Sometimes its just nice to come last!!

Straight up to the Pennant for our last sailaway. A party would have been good but someone must have forgotten to organise one! Tropical Vision couldn’t get their act together either so we just slipped away very quietly! Well as quiet as you can be with large cocktails in your hand, waving to anything that moves. We sat at the bar wishing that the land wasn’t really slipping away from us, but never mind we will be back soon!

We don’t really have time for a sleep but Mr C fits in one of those power sleep jobbies while I quietly fill a case with some clothes that I know I just wont need again this cruise. Oooh how exciting, it was just like going shopping in my wardrobe. I came a cross dresses I didn’t know I had, it was great. And I could see the shoe mountain more clearly. One of those ‘dresses I forgot I had’ was selected and you guessed it, pre dinner drinks in Andersons. The cosmo’s and the appletinis are great in here but the entertainment value is even better. The bar staff are so entertaining. The poor pantry boy is always getting it in the neck from Geoff, but he just lets it ride off his back and has always got a knowing little smile for us. Palav never knows what mood to expect Geoff in at 7.45, but hes always funny. Just don’t let him catch you laughning at him though.

It really wouldn’t have bothered me if we missed dinner tonight, but when there is other people at the table to consider and as we don’t want to offend the waiters by naking them think we are acoiding them at the end of the cruise, we trott down to dinner. The menu doesn’t inspire me so I hit on the bright idea of jacket potato and ham salad. Oooh dear, asking Issac for a jacket potato wasn’t the best idea I had had and I tried to recall my order when he decided to have a bit of a hissy fit about it, but potato was ordered now so I had better eat it. Ham salad would have been great if he hadn’t have put 2lbs of boiled ham on the plate. If I had took that home to Mum and Jack it would have fed them easily for a week and half! Just looking at that amount of meat put me off, and although I ate a slice and a half, plus the potato and some salad, you couldn’t tell that I had touched it. That was Issac cheesed off again! I could almost here him muttering ‘why do I bother?’

After the day in port and loss of afternoon nap I didn’t have the energy for anything, so after what will probably be one of the last strolls around the deck this cruise. Im full of cold and can hardly breath once I get into the airconditioning, so I go in search of Clifford in Masquarades because I know he can make a good hot toddy. But hes not back on until midnight. Our wine waiter comes to the rescues though and dashes off to find the ingredients and asks the bar tender to mix it for me. Mmmm that’s better…. Im off to bed while I can still breath.

Friday 23rd November 2007

Well there is no point at all in getting up or rushing around today. Ive already said goodbye to my sun lounger in the Royal Box for a while, so I just lay in bed. Surely to god Mr C has watched everything that goes around that TV on a loop by now? No it would appear not. The ship is jumping around a bit today, which is usually quite fun, but not in our cabin. I now have a new golden rule which says ‘don’t book a cabin beyond the front stairwell’ but the boys on the bridge tell me its more to do with the sea conditions this cruise and D deck isn’t the best place to be. There is more of a swell than rough sea, but as the ship cuts through it, the waves fold back and crash into the side of the ship at just about the same point as our cabin. Normally we wouldn’t hear it as an outside cabin usually has a window flat to the side of the ship, but D deck windows are at an angle, so the noise goes up and is trapped by the protruding D deck.

All in all I didn’t really do a lot today, a bit of work in the library. A bit of laundry. Mick and Amanda finally got their private dance lesson and Mr C joined in for a while, but Im lacking in energy. We retreated to Champions for numerous cocktails and lots of laughing. We like to laugh when we are on holiday, however some people take life a little too seriously!

Formal night tonight, oh and yet another Private Party invite. This time its Staff Captain Andy’s doo in the Uganda so we make sure we are there early because we know those little sausages in the loaf will be there. The deck officers aren’t the best at socialising but eventually Third officer Donald feels he has drunk enough to come and chat to us. And a very nice young chap he was to. Only 20 years old and already ‘driving a ship’ yet he cant drive a car yet lol. He is due home shortly for his first Christmas at home in 3 years so Im sure he is looking forward to that. We would love to stay longer but dinner was called about 10 minutes ago..

Fanfare of trumpets we have our host back! Wow a full table, will Issacc and Edward cope? I think Edward could probably cope better on his own as Issac tends to go into a bit of a flap and ends up serving the wrong meals to people despite what the cutlery tells him. Parade of the Chefs seemed to be over in a blink of an eye tonight. Maybe they didn’t all come out of the galley tonight? Or maybe I have drank too much again hic.

It wouldn’t be formal night without a visit to the ball in Carmens. Darren Day was on in the theatre so a lot of people were down there watching that. I went along and stuck my head in but I thought he was better in the jungle! I love to sit and watch all the dancers in Carmens and its even better now that Mr C will partake in a dance or two. Mad crazy couple from the beginning of the cruise are still out there strutting there stuff and it would be strange if one of the regular dance couples were missing one night. I will come back at New Year and all different people will be waltzing around the dance floor.

Saturday 24th November 2007

Oh dear all the cases are outside the doors all waiting to be filled. Oh I hate packing day. How do you make it all fit into those cases. It takes weeks of planning for me and now I have half a day to put it all back in again. Mr C makes himself scarce as usual and I get a fair bit done, but I need to get out and about and have a wander. Then I need a little lie down, as you do when your on holiday! I think my body is telling me that I haven’t allowed it to have very much of a rest this cruise. At lunch time I send Mr C to visit the sandwich man for one of his fantastic prawn sandwiches. Mmmmm… I love the sandwich man, he has to be the best addition to the Orangery. That gives me a bit more energy to pack another case and then its walkabout time and we end up back in Champions with Neil. We reminisce about the whole cruise, the people we have met, the laughs we have had, the hangovers, the fun ashore and the places and sights we have seen. Oh reality is going to be tough on us all this time around. Pulling ourselves out of Champions late this afternoon is hard because its like admitting that it’s the last day, but it has to be done.

A last few things go in the case while Mr C has one of his power sleeps on the remaining square foot of bed that is still visible.

I wanted to make the most of my last pre dinner drinks so I was at Andersons bar nice and early before the traditional last night rush. Palev is still smiling, but Geoff’s not arrived yet. Geoff was away delivering champagne to a suite and I think he must of partook in a glass or two by the time he arrived. Palev had been doing a brilliant job of the bar single handed, but Geoff had to have a pop at him and anyone else that got in his path, but oh the making up was good. It was kisses all around when Geoff calmed down. The whole gang was in tonight, so despite it being busy we managed our big group photos before we headed down to dinner.

I cant face anymore food. Its too much, so I opt for a starter and a soup which is what I should have done a long time ago as I enjoyed it much more. Ramsom was there with the wine, the one with the stones on it – oh we are easily pleased.

Im busy people watching tonight watching how many actually get out of the restaurant with a simple ’goodbye and thanks very much’ mmmm do they come back with a tip in the morning or am I just a soft touch? I will never know. Tipping has been harder this time. We spent 7 of the 22 nights in alternative restaurants so do we calculate those in the tips? After all we have paid the cover charge in those other restaurants, and to be honest the service hasn’t been amongst the best we have received. The lads were great, but sometimes we would wait forever to be served the next course and other times we would have the next course infront of us before we had drawn breath. I took all this into consideration and still think we were quite generous, so why did I feel like I was being mean? Oh weel, its last dinner and time to get out of here

As usual we headd for Carmens, but after 21 nights of a very under used room and never a problem getting a seat we find ourselves having to stand. Its Talentless show that’s why!! Eventually we squeeze our way to the bar and find a couple a barstools. Its very ‘de ja vue’ as this is exactly where it all started 3 weeks earlier, even Hughie is stood at the end of the bar, but he didn’t offer us a drink this time, maybe he has worked out who I am lol.

Watching the Talent show was like pulling teeth. Why do they do it. Ever heard of electronic bagpipes? No neither have we and Im convinced someone was having a wind up. After what seemed like hours it all came to a climax with a chorus of ‘white Christmas’ and me and Amanda drifted out of our nightmare.

The room very slowly cleared a little and we were able to get a comfy seat at the front of the dance floor.

Now this is where I get really cheesed off with the ents team. For one thing the room is packed full of people wanting to party. Where have they been all cruise? And secondly just about every member of the ents team is on the dance floor practically pulling you off your seat to get up and dance. Where the hell have they been all cruise. Every night of the ball we were lucky, and I mean very lucky, if one member of the team was in attendance to dance with. Now we have the whole flaming lot of them jumping around like lunies and smiling. Don’t they know its too late? My comment form went in hours ago. Surely this is what they are there for on a nightly basis? No I think hosting a quiz wears them out! Ents teams have a lot to learn, but it’s the same most cruises.

Caravan were brilliant and everyone was on the floor for sailing, New York New york and the like. But the finale was one final and brilliant performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course they got a well deserved standing ovation. The party continued with DJ Gittos but we knew it was time to call it a day. Hugs and kisses all around but we had to admit it was our last night (for a while)

I stook my head outside, it was freezing and there were twinkling lights of land on the port side but I didn’t even want to think of where abouts they might be.

Sunday 25th November 2007

I woke while it was still dark and looked out of the window. I think we had stopped to pick up the pilot as it was very quiet and there outside the window was the QE2. she looked fantastic just sitting there quietly all light up. I drifted back to sleep for a while and the next time I looked I could see the QE2 dock passing by the window, then the car park, oh I didn’t want to look anymore so I put my head back on the pillow. Next thing I knew he had put the thrusters on and we were turning in the basin past the grain mountains and flour mill. That was it we were back in Blightly and there was no escaping it. Time to get up and head to first sitting breakfast in the restaurant for 7.00am. I usally love breakfast in the restaurant on the last morning but it wasn’t so good today. We had missed all of the tables for two to the very early birds so we were put on a table for 8. lovely people but Im really not into socialising and making polite conversation at that time of the morning. The one couple let us all know that they were very disappointed in the Caribbean and wouldn’t be coming this way again. Oh dear, it seems they were part of the ‘don’t venture past the dock gates brigade’ what a waste to come all that way and not be a little adventurous.

Breakfast was just a disaster. I ordered bacon, sausage and beans, but got bacon egg and beans. The waiter was not impressed when I pointed it out and made it quite clear that he wasn’t happy about me ‘messing him around. he made no offer to keep it warm while he sent for bacon so I chose to eat it. The tea was cold. The orange juice was like water and the toast was like tinder (ooh dear am I moaning?) eventually my bacon appeared and it was unceremoniously tipped onto my dirty plate on top of my knife and fork! What a shame that my last P&O experience was bad one. Oh well at least it was the only bad experience.

We stop by reception to collect Mr C’s spear gun, then its back to the cabin to stuff the last few things into the suit bag.

Agnelo our cabin steward has been brilliant. Always very efficient, happy and he has gone that extra mile to entertain me with his towel creations etc. he looks stressed this morning trying to get all of his cabins in order so we quickly say our goodbyes and get out of his way.

It only just gone 8 O’clock but we head down to our usual waiting spot on F deck out of the way of everyone. We have so many bags it’s a real struggle, made all the more difficult by that flaming spear gun in its long box! A few people are starting to gather in the atrium so we creep down there. I can hear on the radios that shoreside are ready for us and priority disembarks are almost ready to go. So with Priority disembarkation tickets in hand we edge to the gangway and we are cleared to leave the ship. I almost managed to hang onto my priority disembark cards for next time as I managed to get past two people collecting tickets but Gittos decided he would be clever and caught up with us to take them off me – nice one!

How I got down that escualator with all my bags in hand was beyond me . it was more of a balancing act than anything. Thankfully it was soon loaded onto trolleys. Finding the cases wasn’t easy and I had left both D and F deck labels on them so some were in the D deck area and some were in the F deck, but they were all found and we were heading through an empty customs hall before I knew it. For once we were well within our duty free allowance as I knew how strict they were after the last Caribbean cruise, but this time there wasn’t a sole in attendance and we could have got away with loads of cheap booze – oh well!

We managed to keep everything on the trolleys as we crossed the road to the Car parking. Mr C collected the keys and I found I had been stood alongside my own car all along and didnt even recognise it! How he fitted all of that stuff into the car is beyond me but at just a few minutes past 9 we were listening to Steve Wright Sunday Love songs and heading home. I woke up twice, and that was the only point at which I realised I was asleep. Mr C had got me home safe and sound, but this was reality. A huge pile of post and a house that needed a womans touch after two teens had been let loose in it for 22 days!

For me and Amanda I think it is safe to say that we have pretty much laughed our way around the Caribbean. Not because we felt the need to it just seemed to sort of come naturally to us. We think along the same wave length as so pretty much know what the other one is thinking before we have said or done it. Its pretty safe to say that we have found the slightest thing amusing this cruise and that’s the ay it should be.

All in all its been a fantastic cruise. We have met and made some fantastic new friends along the way which I know will continue to be great friends.

This cruise will always be remembered as one of my favourites because of the people we met, the places we visited and the cocktails and rum punch consumed!

Please feel Free to leave a comment below and you can view the rest of my pictures here in the Aurora November 07 slideshow

Monday 9th October 2006

I woke up at some ungodly hour that seems like days ago at the moment.  It was still dark whatever time it was?  I went down stairs and straight to my office to check out the webcams.  Yippee was just coming up Southampton water and by the time I had made a cup of tea she was turning in the basin.  Yippeeee!

Couldn’t wait to get ready and zip up my wheelie case of essential girlie items.  I had to go on a mission to Tescos at 8.00am to buy Mum my some fruit boiled sweets.  Why the heck she couldn’t get some on one of her daily visits to town during the week is beyond me, but we searched every local petrol station and shop yesterday and discovered nobody stocks fruit boiled sweets.

Got back to discover Mr C still in bed so it was time to kick him into the shower.

So the mini bus is due in 30 minutes and what does Mr C decide to do?  Yep, he goes out to look at some electrical job or another.  How I kept my cool I will never know?  Meanwhile I gets a call from Mummy and it would seem she was having some mini drama or another so I have to dash up there to sort her out.  Decide to take her to our house to save a bit of time when the mini bus arrives.

Got home – still no Mr C!  Mini bus arrives and he is greeted by a sea of cases in the hallway.  LOL, little did he know that there was more in the lounge.  Poor bloke, I think he thought the cases were never going to stop coming.  Mr C decides to come home just as the cases are loaded and the oldies are sitting in the bus.  Blokes!!!

Mr Driver man is Ace!  He can see Im spitting feathers for a drink and puts his foot down to Southampton.  My tummy is doing sumersaults and im paranoid I have forgotten something, but 2 hours 15 mins later we are in Southampton.

Check in for Golds is rammed and its still 20 mins until the desks open.  We joined the wheelchair queue as it was smaller.  We checked straight in and were assigned a wheelchair pusher and that was it, we were straight onboard and into Gold Drinks in Crows at 12.20.  I have never seen so few people at Gold drinks but I think that is because lunch was being served in the Orangery and most people opted to go there.

Bucks fizz was on offer but as usual we abused the system.  Mr C managed 3 large brandy and lemonades, then along came Darren (Engineer) and fed him a few more.  We bumped into Sharma who used to be our waiter many cruises ago.  He is now a Butler and Im dam sure he is an excellent one because he was by far one of the best table waiters.  I remember the kids used to call him Jackie Chan although I have no idea who that is!

I managed to go along to the Spa and book a nail appointment.  Good job I did as I only had a choice of two appointments for the next 48 hrs.  8.00am tomorrow or 6.30 the night after next.
OMG  had no choice but to opt for the 8.00am appointment tomorrow, don’t know if I will be up but no doubt they will call me if Im not.

At 3.45 we decided we really should go and unpack.  OMG, we got into the cabin and there were 6 cases a suit bag and a wheelie case plus the two evening dress bags.  Not an inch of floor space to be seen.  We unpacked but the wardrobes are rammed and the drawers are buldging.

Saftey drills are complete so we head straight for the Prom deck and get prime position infront of the Band of Royal Hussars.  Only to be moved along by Derek (officer) 10 minutes later because he needs to rope off the deck and get some safety equipment onboard!  Blokes!!  It was such a lovely mild sunny evening too for a sailaway.

Decide to call into Champions for a drink and met Alex behind the bar who I haven’t seen for 3 years, but then he tells me he hasn’t been at sea for 3 years so that will be why.

On our way to Pennant we spot Lizy in the Kids meeting in Carmens – nice to see shows some responsibility and attends LOL.  Oh, shes just there to say Hi to the Youthie’s!  But I do insist she has her free P&O Youth backpack!  How cool is this – it is big enough to take to the beach, has a water bottle and a towel inside.  She flattley refuses to carry it around as its just not cool so now its mine!

Sailaway party up on Pennant so that’s the place to be with Caravan providing the tunes.  We sail past Saga Rose and past the Isle of White with a perfect sunset behind.  John and Gill join us and we remanice about the last Caribean cruise we did at the same time.  There is a very excentric lady standing close by so we send Gill to investigate, but she hasn’t reported back yet!  The wind picks up and so we head down to Andersons where Clifford is behind the bar nursing a hangover, but he seems pleased to see us.

A quick wash and spruce up and we head back to Andersons for pre dinner drinks.

Our table, table 51 in Medina is waiting (Restaurant Manager dare not mess that one up really had he?).  Mark and Leo are our waiters and they seem nice and on the ball and I think we may be able to have a giggle with these.  I have to say that despite my previous thoughts about rest of the passenger ages being lower than of late we do seem to be surrounded by some old crocks in our section but they may be ok.  LOL they will have to be.  People watching at the max, and we spot a most out of place looking character on a table near by.  A young couple who I guess are travelling together but don’t look much older than 20’s.  He is a bit of a geezer or a chav, cant make up our minds about him, but he very rudely sits sideways in his chair all evening with his arm thrown over the back of the chair.  I will keep my eyes peeled and report back on him.  Tonight I had prawn and Apple, Vegetable Broth, Plaice, Raspberry pudding and custard, coffee and mints.

Mr C is wrecked and insists we go straight to bed, but I manage to drag him to Carmens for all of 3` minutes.  He is asleep on his feet so I have no choice but to head for bed.  We take a brisk walk along the Prom deck and it so mild still.  I have to pinch myself to see if I am actually here.  Mr C somehow gets lost on the way to the cabin and I get back first.  Must admit my bed did look pretty inviting and Im soon into my PJ’s and snuggled under my duvet.

Tuesday10th October

Hardly slept a wink last night thanks to the people next door.  How noisy were they?  Obviously uunpacking until late so I beared with them, but then at 5 they were all wide awake and chatting and giggling like they were the only ones onboard.  Sound like 4 grown ups too not kids!

My Pillows are going to have to go.  God knows how old they are but they are so old they are flat and rock hard.

Got up and dressed for my nail appointment only to find the clock was 30 minutes out.  Oh well at least I had a nice peaceful cup of tea and a Danish in a quiet corner of the Orangery watching the gengle rolls of the swell on the sea.

Nail appointment at 8.00am and the girl is nothing like ‘scarey Nail Lady’ of last cruise, but she is lovely.  We decide that more poor old nails aren’t up to much and so they have to be soaked off and a nice new gel set of nails are applied.  The two hour appointment doesn’t allow enough time for painting so I have to return later.

Met Mr C and Lizy for breakfast in Café B so I didn’t over do it and just had juice and fruit platter followed by tea and Danish.

A stroll around the ship and we notice they are very hard sell with everything this morning.  Everywhere we go there seems to be promotions of Duty Free, books, services, salon items etc.  Charlies is completely taken over as the new market stall area which looks dreadful and very tacky but at least its out of the way I guess.  Every bar seems to have a display of ‘special shots’ or Cocktails etc.  There is new drink sponsors too so that is all over the bars etc.  Think one is Leffe beer and that appears everywhere including sun brollies by the Riviera Bar.

We had a drink in Crows and listened to the noon announcement and I correctly guessed how many miles we had travelled since Southampton. 355!  I wonder if we always travel that far on the first day and it was logged in the back of my brain somewhere?  I had a Pimms as the cocktail of the day was Chocolate Banana – yuk!  Yesterday was Blue Laggoon and Im not keen on that either so hope for better things tomorrow.

Back to see Kim in the salon for my nail painting and art.  Im very pleased with the result even though they did cost a fortune.

We stop to chat to Gill and John in Raffles a couple I know from our last caribbeen cruise and then Gillian and her parents come around the corner.  Its so good to see her, but we hear all about the drama Shelia is having because her case never made it off the flight from Scotland.  I can not believe she is so good humoured about it.  I would be mortified!  Especially as they cant get her case to her until we get to the Caribbean!

Lunch in Medina Restaurant  and we are guided to a table in the back corner but are very pleased to be served by our last table waiter Caje.  Just a light lunch of potato and herb soup followed by tuna jacket potato.  I skipped the sweet so was pleased with myself for that.

We bump into the Staff Captain and Jane in the shop and have a nice chat.  He tells me we should expect very good weather in the Caribbean.

Mr C goes off to play cricket and Im on a mission to get a bit fitter so despite the drizzle and strong wind I head out for a mile round the prom deck at a very brisk pace. I’ve also told Mr C to make sure I always use the stairs when my heels allow as I don’t want too much ending up around my hips during this cruise.

Im done in and so there is only one place for me and that’s my bed.  Oh its heaven but I only get about an hour as the neighbours soon return and decide every friend and relative to tell them what a lovely cruise they are having.  They speak way too loud!

Mr C made me a nice cup of mocha coffee that I had bought with me  and then we decided we had a dodgy kettle as it insisted on keep buzzing!  It became very high pitched and annoying and given that there was quite a major incident involving a cabin fire and a kettle a few cruises back we decided to report it.  I reported it to reception knowing full well that the report would go straight to the Electro maintenance engineer and we expected someone to come running along to investigate.  But as time went by we realised that as the Maintenance engineer knew us really well he might think ‘Ha ha Chadwicks very funny Im not falling for that one’ so after an hour and half I bleeped him.  It turned out that the fault hadn’t got to him yet and when he eventually realised that we were being serious, he dispatched an engineer straight to our cabin to get the kettle supply disconnected.  He was not a happy man with the lack of communication and I get the impression that heads were about to roll. So I did the right thing reporting it.

Informal evening this evening and I headed for pre dinner drinks in Andersons.  Lizy and Mr C were engrossed in some film on TV so were late getting ready, but they weren’t long before the joined me.

Clifford made me a very nice apple Martini – very potent and so I had to return to my southern comforts and manage a few before dinner.

Justin (Portunus Manager) arrives to escort Lizy to dinner as he is our host this cruise for dinner.  Two bottle of wine flow and a very nice meal of Tiger prawns and shrimps with sweet chilli dip, lamb, and tropical fruit cheese cake.

After dinner they head for the theatre to watch comedian Mike Hammer but two jokes is all I can manage and head for Andersons Bar where Im joined by Arthur (Jools hubby)  Jools has turned in for the night so he’s left with me LOL.  We are soon joined by Darren (officer who had my kettle taken away) and so I rib him as much as I can about overting a major incident!  Not long and the others leave the show to join us, the comedian didn’t get any better!

I must have had far too many Southern Comforts but I blame all those that kept coming to chat to us.  Mr C and Arf get on like a house on fire (LOL) chatting about the fire brigade so we head off down to Masquarades and leave them to it.

Lizy is disgusted that the nightclub is busy but the DJ has the personality of a dead snail and is playing the same play list that Simon Jason played in 2000!  She only suffers one more drink and decides to go to bed, but Mr C is on a mission we have a few for the road.

Café B calls us and hot chocolate, loaded potato skins and Croque Monsueir are ordered.  Im not imressed because my ham & cheese toastie does not include any cheese, but the waiter is not interested in my moan at silly o’clock in the morning.  Why should he listen to a drunken silly woman?

Wednesday 11th October.

That bloody woman next door is on the phone again this time instructing someone how to cook something in the microwave.  Mr C banaged on the wall but it had no effect.

Im feeling rough, and when I try to get up from my bed OMG!!!  How much did I drink last night?  We are hitting some very big bumps in the sea today and I cant cope.  After 3 attemps Im fully dressed and Mr C drags me out.  But I cant pull myself together.  Martyn (1st Officer) finds it highly amusing to find me slumped in a window on Prom deck and I cant even make conversation with him.  After a gasp of fresh air out on Prom Mr C drags me down to the restaurant for breakfast, but I have to insist on a table for two as Im not feeling the slightest bit sociable.

After breakfast we sit for a while out on prom deck and its lovely in the sunshine.

We end up wandering the ship looking for a stable place to sit and I end up in the Sofas in Charlies behind the Shop market stalls – let the shoppies dare to ask me to move!  They soon realise Im quite a giggle and we end up having a morning of banter while they coach me through my hangover.

At 1230 I have to move and Im instructed to go for lunch.  Im not too bad now but the ship is still rolling around and its hard to deal with.  I manage my thick peas and mint soup but when the curry is put infront of me Im finished!

I do something I haven’t done in recent years and take to my bed with two seasickness tablets!  I woke up nearly 4 hours later from a lovely deep sleep feeling almost human again thankfully.  Hangovers and a rocking ship just do not mix so don’t try it!

Formal night tonight and the Captains Cocktail Party in Crows Nest. But we are ready early so have time for a couple in Andersons before hand.  Darren joins us for a drink before he shoots off to Carmens where he is on P&O Smile duty.

We spot Mum & Jack en route to Crows and we meet up with them at the lifts.  Doesn’t seem that many in the party?  Maybe it’s the weather?  Or maybe everyone is sick to death of listening to the same old speech? ‘You look after the weather and I’ll look after the ports’ Ha ha!  Yes its wearing a bit thin now.  But we have a very pleasant time chatting to Martyn (1st Officer) Justin (Portunus) and anybody else that calls past us.

Martyn is the perfect gent and escorts Lizy all the way to dinner despite the fact that he is not dining in our restaurant.

Tonight for dinner we had Smoked Salmon, chicken and sweetcorn soup, although the the pumpkin soup was also very nice, champagne sorbet, beef that was cooked to perfection followed by fresh strawberries and ice cream.  Lizy had the hot chocolate pudding with white fondant sauce and fudge ice cream and that was also equally as nice.  We succumbed to the ‘half price’ liquers that they sell after dinner as tonight it was Baileys with coffee and chocolates yum!

We head off to Carmens and don’t even draw breath before we are hurled onto the dance floor.  I think I struggled through a waltz a quickstep and a jive.  Still not many people around and I think they must be in the show.  Hughie was sat in the bar and after about the third time of walking past him I got a very false ‘oh welcome back, I had no idea you were onboard’  I swear he was winding me up or trying?!

As it wasn’t exactly kicking in here we decide to go and see the karaoke in Champions, but that’s not really happening either.  Although we can confirm that Elvis is alive and well and singing onboard Aurora.  After another drink we relocate back to Andersons and chat to Louise and Clifford.  Martyn comes by too, then we all head for Masquarades.  I manage to get my barstool back this evening.  Also discover that Rhumba Lumba is the cocktail of the day so I have 3 or 4 of those.  We have a very pleasant evening with Jill & John and Martyn who hasn’t been lead astray for a while.

At 2.30 we decide it must be Café B time and I ordered croquet monsuir to see if they have improved from yesterday?  No is the answer to that.  Cold toast, very cheap paper thin ham and nil cheese.  All stone cold, so I have to say something to the waiter and he advises me to check between the ham.  No still no cheese (should I really have to look for it?) So he says he will get some more made.  This time I get stone cold toast, 3 very thin slices of naff ham and 2 cold extremely thin slices of kraft cheese.  All layered together and all stone cold.  I have no choice to leave it but fair play to the waiter he did ask why and he has asked for my cabin number so Im guessing he has intentions of reporting it?

A stroll around deck before dinner and its all calm outside and lovely and mild.  Must be heading for the Caribbean eeek!

Thursday 12th October 2006.  Ponta Delgada.

Woke fairly early but then the clocks had gone back.  Mr C made some tea with the new kettle and then he ordered some BLT sandwiches. Yum Yum!

It’s a lovely sunny morning and by the time we emerge from our inside penthouse we are docked.  Captain is very pleased with us because we did such a good job of looking after the weather that he was able to get us into port 3 hours early.  We had a bit of a chilled out morning sitting by the Pennant and sampling the cocktails of the day.  Strawberry Daquari today and I like those!

Justin joins us for lunch in the Orangery, but he has work to do this afternoon ha ha.

We take the shuttle to the dock gate.  Mum moans like hell because there is nothing in Ponta Delgada but we knew that and are just happy to stroll around in the warm sun and check out the back streets.

We sat by the Riviera Bar for a while sampling Marks cocktails and then I knew I needed my bed.  So a few hours sleep was gained and I woke up feeling like I could stay there all night.

I managed to get up and showered for the evening ahead.  Mr C was nursing a man cold and it was touch and go whether he was going to get up or not, but he managed to scrape into dinner.  Andersons was very busy and eventually I was joined by Justin for one drink before dinner.

After dinner we went to Carmens and created our own dance floor by the bar with Justin, mr Magic man and Laura assistant Crew Manager.  Mr C couldn’t keep up with the party mood this evening due to the man cold so he had to go to bed.

After Carmens we all went to Andersons and it was still busy so we had to sit round the corner in the smokey section on the sofa which actually wasn’t too bad.  One lady definatley disapproved of us being there though.  I don’t know if that was because we had one stiped officer and two crew with name badges? Or whether it was because, shock horror,Lizy has a very pretty blouse and nice girlie shoes on BUT had some Capri type jeans on?  Oh tut tut  denim on a casual nigtht!  Anyway said woman did a lot of tutting and looking down her nose.

Had to visit Masquarades as it would be rude not to.  It was relatively busy again.  Lara and Lizy had a couple of dances, and the dance floor was quite busy at times.

Justin needed to go to bed as poor bloke has to work at 9.00am in the morning lol.  Laura and Mr Magic went off to the crew mess to get some food and that was it – as soon as someone mentioned food Lizy wanted to go to Café B.  Thankfully the menu has been changed and those non cheese, cheese and ham toasties are off the menu.  Tonight we had chicken gourjons and barbeque sauce with fries and a couple of hot chocolates.

We went out the back of deck 8 for a breath of fresh air and it was into bed for around 2.30 again.

Friday 13th October 2006

Clocks went back yet another hour last night and I was awake at 7.  We got up early and went for civilised breakfast in the Medina.  We had to sit with others though and yes one of the couples had to be snobs, world cruisers, gold card holders and all the rest of it!  I just wanted my breakfast in peace so we kept quiet and ate our breakfast and left.

Chilled out and had a nice wander around to see what was going on.  I was going to do a few laps of the prom but it was like brans hatch out there and everyone was on a mission to lap each other so I will go back when its quieter.

It’s a lovely warm sunny day outside but someone is sat in my chair and the one lounger we headed for someone else got there too and so I just cant be doing with the hassle of it all.  We had a lovely stroll around top deck and then went to Champions for a drink.  There was some weird American quiz going on but then it was sing a long time, which accompanied by a long island iced tea or three turned out to be good fun.  Lizy now has ‘It’s a long way to Tiperarry’ wizzing round her head sending her mental!  That’ll be payback for all that weird music that thumps out of her bedroom!

Indian Buffet lunch in Alexandria today.  I usually like Indian lunch but today I didn’t find many nice things to pick at.  We had a very nice table for two though by the window (table 42)

I had my walking on Clouds pedicure booked for 1.45 so mr C went to find a quiet spot on deck to chill out.  I have to say my cloud walking experience was nowhere near as good as the one scary nail lady did last cruise.  Why I paid for it is beyond me as the soles of my feet were dry when I left and I didn’t get the nail art I had booked for.  All they seem interested in is ‘up selling’ and extra appointments.  So the salon has lost any good marks from me.

I go for my afternoon nap sulking because I don’t have pretty toes but hey ho.

Formal night tonight and its pre dinner drinks in Andersons.  Tonight I tried the melon Martini followed by a couple of champagne cocktails.

Dinner menu was pretty uninspiring so I ordered a steak and fries. Looked lovely when it arrived but Justin spotted a long hair in it so that had to go back!  Now Im put off my meal!  The next steak arrives but is rare and not medium!  Friday 13th has kicked in I think. Then the dizy wine waitress turns up with the bill for me and I wasn’t even there when it was ordered!!!  They are all out to wind me up today.

Carmens was supposed to be a Ladies Night Ball but they were playing stupid flippin games with dice dancing from corner to corner.  Would have been ok but it went on and on.

Martyn turned up and drags us out of there to Champions where we sit and watch the comings and goings from a window seat.  Before I know it we are in Masquarades before the nightclub has even kicked in.  The useless DJ Andy comes on and that’s me about finished.  I slip off quietly to bed and leave Mr C and Lizy in the capable hands of a Martyn First Officer.

Saturday 14th October 2006

Another hour back on the clock and Im awake at 7 new time, but the TV info tells me its 22 degs outside so its on with the bikini and Im out there.  I get my usual chair and I don’t move very far from it all day. Moscow Mule is the cocktail of the day and they are very refreshing in the hot sunshine.  The steel band entertain us for an hour or so and the rest of the time is just spent soaking up the sunshine and its just fab.

Informal tonight.  Pre dinner drinks in Andersons and more Martini cocktails are sampled. Lamb for dinner followed by orange Soufle and grand marnier sauce.

Mr C is rather warm at dinner so leaves a bit early to get a breath of fresh air on Prom Deck.  Don’t think he was expecting it to be so warm and balmy outside and he had to retreat to the cabin to loose his suit, but he took one look at his bed and he was in there!

Justin escorted Lizy to the magic show in the theatre while I lapped the prom a couple of times and checked out the different venues of entertainment.  The pub quiz in Masquarades seemed to be the busiest but its not the same as being in Champions.  Carmens was dead and only a few couples on the dance floor.  I returned to the show and stood at the back with Clifford.  It didn’t impress me so he went back to work and served me drinks in Andersons.  Justin and Lizy joined me after the show.  It seemed to be senior officers big night out and all the senior stripes came in and stood at the bar for drinks.  I think each and everyone came over for a chat and offered to buy us a drink but we didn’t think that was the best odea for lizy to be asking for a large vodka each time so we declined them all (didn’t want no bar staff getting into trouble)

Me & Liz left Andersons at about 1.30am and headed for masquerades which was surprisingly busy, but we took a look around and decided to turn into bed.

Sunday 15th October 2006

I wake up at 5 ish and Mr C wakes up at 6.  We just cant get our body clocks to adjust.  Decide to get up and go out on deck.  We were on our sunloungers before 6.45 this morning and I confess to getting some strange looks from passing officers and crew to see me sunbathing in the dark in my bikini lol!  Well it was already 26 deg and it was nice just to be in the fresh air. We sat and watched the sun rise from the pink sky with a pot of tea and some Danish pastrys – well why not we are on holiday.

It’s a very long hot morning and I was ready for a pina colada cocktail of the day when the bar opened at 10.00am. but the steel band play us some sunny Caribbean tunes to break up our day.  I opt for a light lunch of smoked salmon sandwich and prawn wraps.  I have to keep going for a wander around deck to cool off – it’s a hard life!

I decide to turn in early this afternoon for my nap, but it lasts all of 30 minutes before Liz and Mr C return to the cabin and Mr C proceeds to fall into a 3 hour deep snoring sleep which does nothing for my mood!

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons means more Martini cocktail sampling and tonight I opt for the orange and peach one – very nice! Jools and Arf sit at the bar with us and we all have a good laugh.  The attending officers scrape into dinner with less than a minute to spare for their table hosting – oops!

I had salmon moose, minestrone soup and chicken followed by carrot cake.  All very nice but I admit to picking at the chicken and the carrot cake because I was stuffed.

Its formal night tonight but there doesn’t seem to be much going on.  Classical concert in the theatre, Blues Brothers in Carmens, disco karaoke in Masquarades.  So we make our own fun in Andersons by the bar with the cocktail list with martin Justin, Jools Arf and us.  Who needs entertainment?  Lizy and officers head for Masquarades at about 11.30 and catch the end of karaoke, but by the time we get there its all over.

Me & Mr C go out on deck and just laze in a steamer chair with a brandy for a while.  Its so warm its great!  I leave Mr C to return to Masquarades to Arf and I retire to my bed.

Monday 16th October 2006

We had an hour back on the clocks but I was still woken up by Mr C at 6 in the morning as he was leaving the cabin to take some photos.  Once I was awake I decided to join him and was on my sun lounger in the dark (LOL) at 6.15am!!  Doesn’t matter what time I get up though there are always the same people in the pool having an early morning swim.

Its very windy by the Riviera today but I cant be bothered to relocate and anyway it’s a very warm wind.  By the time the bar opens at 10.00am Im ready for my Planters Punch cocktail of the day.

Caravan are serenading us at noon and we celebrate being here a week.  Its sort of the end of phase one of the cruise.  A week at sea with one port – sheer bliss!  A week full of informal and formal nights – just how it should be,  Tomorrow we start ‘phase 2’ with all the Caribbean ports on a row and lots of casual nights.

When Caravan finish we decide to take lunch in Café B, and I think we must be one of a few passengers onboard who change for lunch instead of dining in their swim wear and shorts!  We have a nice chicken pasta carbonara, strawberry trifle washed down with a bottle of wine followed by an irish coffee! Superb!

A storm is approaching as I do my laps ofprom deck, so the next decision is easy and I go for my nap, soon joined by Liz and Mr C.

Liz wakes up so disorientated that she thinks she was so drunk last night that she has forgotten what she did and where she went lol.

Informal night tonight and I have to  empty some of my worn clothes from the wardrobe into a case so I can start to see what I have bought with me.  The clothes were packed solid into the wardrobe but now I have space to see whats what.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons joined by Jools and Arf but they warn that we mustn’t make them late for dinner as they got  some tuts last night lol!

Dinner tonight was melon & pineapple, spinach and courgette soup (yuk it tasted like wood bark)  I then opted for the sweet and sour veg but the roast pork or steak looked equally as nice. I had lemon cheesecake and mr c said the mud pie was to die for!

Peter Goodwright was on in the theatre and it seems half the ship went to se him as it was packed in there and was actually funny from what bit I saw. Mr C watched more of it while me & Liz returned to Andersons.

YEY!!!  Karen came and found me!  At last we meet.  Funny as her ears must have been burning because me and Jools were discussing sending a note to her cabin.  They both arrived just as we were asking Martyn (Hhiiii) about the ship, fire, water tight doors, evacuation in an emergency etc.  sounds boring but we did actually learn some fascinating facts.

The rest of the ship was just dead and I think everyone had gone to bed in rediness for port tomorrow.  We tried Masquarades and had one drink but the DJ’s personality was killing us so we went to Café B and had nacho’s and hot chocolate.  A stroll along the balmy prom deck and we were in bed at 1230 once we had put the clocks back yet another hour.

Tuesday 17th October 2006 – St Maarten

Martyn had told us to expect rain showers today but we woke up to it tipping it down! A massive thunder and lightening storm followed, but by 0930 it was clearing up and the sun was coming through.

OMG we had such a fantastic day ashore today that I don’t really know where to start.  We took Mum & Jack to the duty free shops at the end of the pier and they loved it.  Mum was in her element with all the diamonds, and I love the tanzanite.  We bought a litre of Mount Gay rum extra reserve for $17, litre of Southern Comfort 100% for $17, some gold schnaps for $14 and many other weird and wonderful liquors for a few dollars each.

We got them back to the ship for 11 and we grabbed some swimming gear and headed ashore again with Justin.  We took the water taxi across the Philipsburg for $5 return and walked along the prom before stopping for some very potent smoothies.  I loved the shops which ranged from little shacks of souveniers, duty free blokes gadgets and gizzmo’s, oh and loads of sparkly stuff!  Mr C got some all singing all dancing flash thing for his camera that cost a fortune but he tells me it was £80 cheaper than at home.  Liz got some free tanzanite earings!  I loved the Tanzenite and tried on this amazing ring but as it had an amazing price tag I had to give it back to the nice shop keeper man!  Anyway we hadn’t planned to buy tanzanite today and we had gone ashore for a fun day and oh boy did we have one!

We ate at Mango Bar.  Justin had the best ribs he had ever tasted, Mr C had a chicken curry and me and Liz had jerk chicken.  Two cocktails washed it all down nicely but made my head spin a bit!

I sat on the beach for a while while Mr C investigated some snorkling, meanwhile Lizy and Justin for filled and ambition and hired out to ‘Segways’ to ride up and down the prom on.  It was $45 each for an hour but they loved it.  For the oldies (like me) who haven’t got a clue what one is they are sort of like a cross between a bike or a pogo stick with wheels, and its all controlled by gyroscopes and body weight and balance.  Anyway they past their driving tests and enjoyed their hour zooming about on them. Mr C did do a spot of snorkelling but because of the storm the sea was very murky although he said it was very warm.

We investigated the back streets and then stopped for another cocktail on the beach over looking the ship.

We got the water taxi back and as a load of passengers pushed infront of me and Justin we got split up from Mr C and Lizy.  They got the back of the boat and we got the front where all the seats were wet so we sat right at the bow where they were dry.  OMG the sea was so choppy I thought we were going to die.  One minute I was laughing the next minute I was praying and nearly crying.  It didn’t help when Justin started to look worried either.  I apologise to all other passengers now for any bad language I may have used.  It was like the worst big dipper ride ever and you never knew what was coming! I got back to the cabin for a lie down and could still feel the boat throwing me around.

I had a sleep while Mr C took his new camera equipment out on deck for sailaway, woke up wishing I hadn’t bothered with my nap and could have happily stayed in my bed forever.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons with Jools, Arf, Martyn and Justin.

Justin loves hosting our table so much that he even attends on casual nights!  We have such a giggle its mad.  Even Mark and Leo the waiters join in with it now and they wind Mum up and tell her to put the clocks forward again lol

We come out of dinner feeling completely wiped out but the Tropical Band are playing on Pennant so we venture outside in the hope that it will liven us up, but the heat of the tropical Caribbean zapps us and its not long before we find our beds.

Wednesday 18th October 2006 – Antigua

I have really been looking forward to todays port because I love it here, however it didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts.  Its very very hot even first thing in the morning.  We are docked on the next pontoon along from where we would normally dock which means the duty free shops that would keep mum happy aren’t directly at the end of our dock.  We are greeted ashore by a steel band and every one dances into the town.  Before I know whats what I loose Mr C who is pushing mums chair and then almost loose Jack.  I go backwards and forwards from A to B for ages until we find them again and as the sun is beating down on me Im not in the most pleasant of moods about it!  I tried on some very expensive Tanzenite rings just to calm me down, but they were way out of our price range.  I bought Mr C some
Pussers Rum though which isn’t bad though considering I was in a mood with him.

We got Mum and Jack back to the ship, changed into our beach wear, collected Lizy and headed off into town again to get a taxi to take us to the beach – but not before doing a spot of retail therapy because Lizy needed more casual clothes.

We had to haggle for a price of taxi to Dark wood beach, some wanted $60 but we got $40 return so wasn’t too bad.  All the taxis want to take you to the commercial or hotel beaches because they get a commission but I was adamant I wanted Dark Wood beach as its one of my very favourite beaches in the world.  Mr C wasn’t dissapioned when he saw the white sand and aqua blue sea glistening.
As always there were very few people ther and those that were there only stopped for an hour as they were doing the private taxi tour that took in Nelsons Dockyard and calls back at this beach as part of the package.  By 1.30 pm we had the beach to ourselves.  We had numerous rum punches and beers at $3 each.  We also had a lovely lunch of salad chips and burger x 2 and a chicken and chips for $7 each.  It was basic but lovely.

I lay on the lounger while Mr C and Lizy snorkelled and generally acted like kids, then all of a sudden out of nowhere 2 jet skis appeared and they were off for 45 minutes of messing about on the water.  The jet ski was $40 for 45 minutes and Lizy drove while Mr C hung on for his life, then the jet ski man hopped on and took them all along the coast and to all the little inlets at top speed.  Then they came back and Mr C took the controls and showed off in the water.

Our taxi man had waited for us and was there to take us back to the ship at 3.30pm as arranged.  Lizy went straight back to the ship but we just had to stop off again for another rum punch.  Why Mr C asked for extra rum was beyond me!

We stumbled back to the ship with minutes to spare, but no worries Martyn was watching for us from the bridge and so we waved and said our usual ‘Hhhiiii’

I had a shower and then fell into bed where I could have quite happily stayed if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Captain and Executive Pursers Private Party tonight out on the back of deck 8.  I got kisses from the Captain and the Purser, or should I say that they got kisses from me lol.

We arrived at dinner fashionable late, but to be honest a plate of sandwiches would have been a welcome change.

It was supposed to be 60’s & 70’s party be the Crystal pool but we went up and the dance floor was all table and chairs and they were doing a quiz.  Not only that but the dome was closed and it was sweltering in there. The staff were dripping and we just couldn’t stick it so we left.  A drink in Andersons and we were finished and ready for bed.
We later learnt that the dome did eventually get opened and it turned into quit a lively night.

Thursday 19th October 2006 – Dominica

Well this place didn’t have much to live up to because everyone had said there was nothing there. But we ended up having yet another fantastic day.

Mr C went diving with the crew for $74 and for that he got 2 dives and he said it was worth every penny and he loved every minute of it.  He dived to 26m and he said the sea was still warm.  I know the next thing he is going to want is an underwater camera!  He saw some amazing fishes and sea life and so has fulfilled an ambition to dive in the Caribbean.

With Mr C departing for the diving expedition as soon as clearance was given on the ship it meant that I was left with the job of making sure Mum was taken off the ship in her wheelchair.  I was dreading it because I knew that the town was a taxi drive away and I knew I wouldn’t cope with kerbs and things.  But thankfully there was a sort of flea market/souvenier market set up in the sheds across from the ship so we arranged to take mum there. Justin had a day off so offered to push the wheelchair so I was saved.  Mum loved the market type place and I think it now means that Dominica is one of her favourite ports!  She bought so much tat it was unreal, but she loved it so that’s all that matters!

As soon as we got Mum safely back to the ship we headed off into town via the shuttle service for $2 per person.  It was baking hot and I mean baking hot!!  You could hardly breath and it was almost unbearable.  The Noordam was berthed in the town and Silver Shadow was anchored off and they have been the only ships we have seen upto now.  We sat in a nice hotel bar for a nice cooling cocktail, I had rum punch and Justin and Lizy had the house speciality.  After that we retreated into an air conditioned duty free shop looking at anything and everything just to stay cool.

We left there looking for another bar and wandered through some very didgy back streets,  I have to say its not the cleanest or most picturesque of ports and I doubt I would wander around lone with just Lizy.

Eventually after wandering here there and every where we ended up virtually where the shuttle dropped us at the CocoRico Cafe Bar we it was blue and yellow if anyone wants to go looking for it and on the road near where the shuttle drops you.  We sat inside and it was very nice and they were attempting to make it cool with various fans.  I had the most blow your head off rum punch I have ever had in my life – it was lethal and I felt la la!
Decided to change to lime daquari after that.  Even though it was only 11.00am we dicided to do lunch and we had some very yummy chicken tortilla wraps and salad, washed down with just a bit more cocktail!

It was too hot to do anything else so we headed back to the ship and went straight to the Riviera pool for a dip, but that was 34 degs!  It was so hot I ordered a large bottle of water!!!  Just as I was deciding it was too hot for even me and I was preparing to go inside Mr C arrived back from his dive.

I told him all about my Rum Punch and the town and before I knew where I was I was back in the taxi and heading for the bar again.  It was very busy and we couldn’t get a seat, but Jill and John were in there so we joined them.  John was bust telling Mr C how he only ever drinks beer and that he never touches spirits, then the next thing I knew was he had Rum Punches too!  Mr C needed to eat and when the girl came to take his order I could see her puzzeled look on her face as I had dined an hour or so earlier with another man lol.  Many many rum punches followed and we moved outside to a pavement table for the entire afternoon.  We were one of the last to arrive back at the ship, but Martyn was standing on the bridge looking out for us and Security man let me use the radio to say ‘Hhhiiii’ to him lol!

As if Mr C hadn’t consumed enough rum punch he decides to pop next door to Jacks cabin and have a Jacks special Rum punch!  He came back in a right old state and one minute was full of beans to the next minute being passed out on the bed.  Lizy found this highly amusing especially as she was able to torment hell out of him without him flinshing.

I decided that he wasn’t going to make dinner so dressed and left for Andersons, but Lizy somehow managed to drag him pout of the shower and push him in the direction of the shower.  She also chose him some clothes and left them on the bed for him.  About 20 minutes later he did actually join us, but he was there in body only and the rest of him seemed to have shut down completely.

Dinner this evening was really nice and I had spring rolls, tomato soup followed by gammon with raspberry sorbet to finish.

We had a baileys coffee in Raffles before going to watch Justin and Darren in the weakest link/Don’t Break the Chain quiz in Carmens.  It has to be stressed that I would never ever watch this sort of cheap crap entertainment but as they were in it we stayed.  I am just so against this rubbish as it costs P&O naff all, its staged and well its boring!  Carmens was packed at the beginning and we couldn’t get a seat so it was a popular venue, but as each long boring round progressed more and more passengers walked out and by the time the lights went up at the end the room was virtually empty, which is a shame as Caravan had a late spot to complete.  AND what really wound me up was this – plus I know it would wind Jules up – if it had been passengers taking part (like Cruisa and Jules did in Mr & Mrs last cruise) the prize would have been a bottle of cuve nappa or a P&O bag, but no, because it was officers playing it was a meal for two in Café B that was the prize!! It all ended in tears as Natasha (communication officer) and Darren (3rd engineer) went head to head and in the end Natasha ‘won’ unfairly and by the quiz master not paying attention.  Darren was not a happy bunny.

We headed off to Masquarades and it was dead but ordered a drink.  I tried the cocktail of the day as lizy said they were nice but it was gin based so didn’t score any points with me.  Darren and Justin joined us and so did Martin eventually with a new lady in tow – a young lady on her first cruise with her mum, obviously impressed by the three gold stripes but I’d just say very gullable!  Anyway at least it explains where he has been the last few nights.

John and Jill came into Masquarades and it turned out the Johns rum consumption earlier had turned him into a right grumpy puss lol.  Bt he seemed ok now and I convinced him to try a P&O rum punch.  Actually stayed out late for the first time in days and we were some of the last to go to bed.

Friday 20th October 2006 – St Lucia

Isnt it great when you can turn the tv on and see a brand new place sitting outside with the sun beating down on it?  It would be even better to pull back the curtains and walk onto the balcony to see it but that’s the difference of an extra cruise a year so the tv picture does me fine, after all its only a deck and a door away.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible for it to get any hotter this cruise but jeepers it’s a hot one today.  I can honestly say I never expected the weather to be any where near this good but it has been superb.

We took Mum and Jack ashore to the duty free shops for what turned out to be a couple of hours.  Mum has just loved every port because there has been duty free shops on every doorstep which has suited us all just fine. She has got pushed around all the little shops and duty free places giving us our time to do what we want later.  Howevever, Mum was on a mission to see everything in every shop twice this morning, which in the searing heat did try our patience just a little bit.

We eventually got her back to the ship and unloaded her wares and did our usual fast turnaround and disembarked the ship with Liz to head for the beach.

We had been advised to head for Spinaker beach although I wanted to go to the beach at soufreir overlooking the Pitons where I used to go on Royal
Clipper, but as I didn’t know the name of it that was off the list. So we decided on Spinaker.  A lot of haggling for a taxi followed as at first they wanted $20 each way, but I wanted $30 return payable on return.  Of course I did get my own way eventually and a taxi man agreed.

My first impression of the beach was slight disappointment because it was too commercial for me.  Rows of loungers and a few water sports, but the sea was shallow and calm.  Local boats on the water selling coconuts etc all added to the atmosphere.  Me & John went to the bar to collect some rum punch and when we got back Lizy had got some rasta man sitting making her an ankle bracelet that she hadn’t even agreed too.  Hi name was Paya and he seemed harmless enough so we let him stay and before long he had convinced Lizys pretty momma that she also needed an ankle bracelet.  He was very entertaining and so he was worth the money just for that.

A huge black rain cloud headed our way so we decided to retreat into Spinakers Bar for lunch.  Well, talk about laid back Caribbean! I thought our lunch was never coming, we were sozzled by the time we got it.  Me and Lizy just kept ordering different cocktails and we would order one just as the other arrived so we had a steady flow going.  Jill & John turned up and sat on the next table and he is a definite rum punch convert now lol.

We went back out onto the beach for a while and although it was baking hot the big black rain cloud was threatening.  Anyway Francis our taxi man was waiting so we headed off back to the ship – turns out it had been raining there ha!

Me and Lizy went back into the perfume shop that I had bought my perfume from this morning and she got some too.  We also got free gifts for spending lots (you see boys there is method in our madness)

N o afternoon sleep again today and I shower and dress in rediness for Tropical Party Night by the Riveira pool tonight.  Its only 6.00pm so we decide to head for  the rum and karaoke bar on the Quay side for an hour, but when we get outside its lashing it down so that scuppered that idea.  Instead we retreat to Andersons and try a Martini cocktail or 3, oooh and an Oriana Peach Royal.

Now, many moons ago, way back at the beginning of October shortly after embarking in Southampton I had booked a table at the Pennant Grill out on the wing.  Not the best of time to rain then!  I confess to being disappointed as it had been such a lovely evening for the last week or so but that’s the way it goes.  Our table was now located by the bar just where it is sectioned off from the rest of the deck.  I was impressed with our table location as it could have been worse and we could have been stuck back by the Orangery.
however it turned out to be not the best of evenings.  Mum was cold (even though it was warm) so I had the job of trecking back to the cabin to find her wrap.  It took the waiters forever t give us a menu, we ordered and I had Salmon fish cakes and chilli dip, scotch broth, tandoori chicken with naan bread.  Mine was very nice although Jacks steak was tough and Mums steak resembled half a cow!  Neither Mum or Jack  enjoyed anything about the evening which me and Mr C and Liz just gritted our teeth through!    Things didn’t get any better when mr & Mrs romantic couple in the corner celebrating an anniversary moved from their table to a table at the bar area directly behind ours and were joined by lots of friends in full party mood.  Nothing wrong with people enjoying themselves but when P&O advertise Pennant as an ultimate delightful dining experience (yes that’s what it says on the little cards on all the bars promoting pennant) I expect the restaurant manager to make sure that nobody sits 2 ft away from the grill part and gets as roudy as a Saturday night in a social club! What got me more was the fact that the restaurant manger came to my mum and asked ‘is everything alright madam’ (bearing in mind shes deaf and cant hear a thing) before moving on and not even looking at me who booked the table in the first place! Grrr!  Wine waier man came and whisked my glass away before I had finished so he nearly got a slap! And then the bill was given to Mr C to sign even though I booked and it was on my account!  Small things but it all got my back up.  I really wanted to call the restaurant manager to our table and say something but on the other hand hate making a fuss in front of others, apart from that he had been faffing over the F&B manager all evening on the table next to us!  So I signed the bill and we left, but as we left Lizy muttered ‘I’d be p’d off it that was me who had just paid £70+ for a crap evening’  so I went back and asked to speak to Restaurant manager man quietly in the Orangery. He just stood their and kept repeating ‘oh Im sorry mam’ after every point I raised.  Obviously didn’t give a monkeys as I had signed the chit and that’s all he was bothered about!

So what else could go tits up tonight?  Well because its been raining Hughie comes on the tannoy to tell us that the ‘oh Boy show’ by the Riviera pool has been cancelled tonight and would be in Carmens.  He never mentioned the Tropical Party afterwards so we presumed it was still on (yes you’ve guessed it the bungee jumping from the bridge had to be cancelled!)  No party by the Riviera, oh well it must be by Crystal under the dome?  No!  Its just disappeared!  Pretend P&O never mentioned it!  Hughies night off again!!!

A drink in Champions and we all retire to bed (Lizy thinks we have all got cabin feaver!)

Saturday 21st October 2006 – Grenada

We woke up to another very hot Caribbean day and I walked along the dock to the terminal building before 8.00am to check out what shopping facilities there were for mum in the new terminal.  It was great, a whole shopping mall.

Sat eating breakfast on the Pennant and the heavens opened for a whole hour, but thankfully it stopped and we could get mum to the shops. She was happy and we were back pretty soon.

As it was overcast we decided that Grand Anse beach wasn’t the best of ideas today, but you could get the water taxi at the end of the pier which I thought was pretty handy.  We decided to just go for wander and some lunch, so we waited onboard until Justin had finished crew drills.  We asked Marion and the port authority man for restaurant recommendations and both suggested Nutmeg or Ocean Grill in the bay.  They were only a few hundred yards apart and so we asked a random taxi man called Neptune which was best – he said Nutmeg.  The setting was ideal, upstairs overlooking the bay and we got a window table, however the food was nothing to write home about.  But it was cheap and cheerful.  After we walked down to Ocean Grill which was much nicer and the food looked very good so that one gets our recommendation for eating at.  We strolled back to the ship and the sun was beating down but I couldn’t be bothered to sunbathe – cant help feeling like I missed out though today.

I think Grenada was my least favourite port out of all of them we have been to.  It had some very dodgy backstreets that I felt very intiminated in even with Mr C.  Also a lot of ‘odd’ people that I wouldn’t like to bump into down an alley!

None of us could face a meal tonight so we sent Mum and Jack to the restaurant and we ordered plates of sandwiches from room service plus some Cajun chicken baquetts from Sidewalk and sat on deck 13 above the crystal pool having a picnic. And very yummy it was too.

Afterwards we strolled around deck 13 before playing shuffle board and deck quoits.  Then we went to the Uganda room and played cards.  Justin and Lizy pulled their hair out trying to teach me! I even only had one drink this evening!  LOL bet you never thought you would hear me say I played deck games and cards!

We stopped by Raffles for a nice coffee and a chocolate and for the first time ever we got asked by the waiter if Lizy was old enough to drink.  He even went away and asked the barman before coming back to us.

At 1030 in Carmens was Mr & Mrs and I had to go along just to see if they were offering the same junk P&O prizes as always or whether they actually offerd passengers a meal for 2 in Café B the same as they offered the officers in Weakest Link the other night?  The questions were the same humiliating ones as they subjected Cruisa and Jules to last cruise and yes, the prize was a bottle of house wine and a P&O prize!! That will definatley be going on the comment form!

We all decided on an early night but noticed the pub quiz in Masquarades and wished we had done that – if only we read Aurora today we would know what was going on.  But I still thought what we had done was more fun and entertaining anyway.

Sunday 22nd October 2006 – Barbados

Welcome to Barbados.  Its hot and its sunny! Its also a Sunday so all the locals have gone to church meaning the shops are closed.  But the terminal shops are open and doing a raring trade. We took mum to the terminal and there was a tropical downpour just as I was pushing her in and I had no option but to run with pushing the wheelchair. The crew were stocking up with plenty of alcohol, but I decided we had bought enough elsewhere.

We got mum and Jack back to the ship and then set off for the Boatyard as planned.

The ‘kids’ (being Mr C, Lizy and Justin) loved this place and had lots of fun.  Im not a beach lover (give me a good clean deck any day) but considering its commercial here it is still a lovely soft white sandy beach. 

They had great fun swimming to the iceberg and trampolines, and jumping off the pirates rope at the end of the peir.  The rum punch was good!  Very potent!  We had lunch of chicken and chips which was cheap and cheerful but always a welcome change.

Lots of pedlars selling there tat on the beach to day which can be quite annoying when you just want to chill out.  I politely told one of the men that I didn’t want anything from him to which he rplied ‘isit your first time in Barbados?’  No, I said.  ‘Well lady next you want o to try and be a bit more friendly!’ and walked off in a huff.  This caused Karen great amusement!

One man was selling something if interest.  He was carrying an Aloe Vera plant which he chopped up and stripped the juice from before giving us the leaves to rub over our body.  Apparently it’s the best thing for you skin and a suntan. We pushed Justins Loyalty Manager job description to the limit and got him to rub my body with the leaves.  LOL.  Well you have to have some perks as a Goldie don’t you?

‘Random man’ (Oh I’ll tell you about our various nicknames for different people on the ship later) got on our mini bus back to the ship and gave Lizy some Barbados dollars to spend.  So when we got back to the terminal we were on a mission to spend it.  I bought my now obligatory fridge magnet and Christmas decoration and we returned to the ship very merry.

I showered and went out to sit on prom deck for a while, but sailaway was delayed for another medical emergency (been one the last 3 nights now) so I ended up doing a mile around the deck.

Chief Engineers Party in the Uganda room this evening so we had to pre dinner drink in Andersons a bit earlier.  The party was packed and far too many people in a small room.  It wasn’t the same without Darren who had no choice but to work.  However we chatted with Zak the Purser, Peter and Jane  (staff Captian) and Captain Ian and wife for the half hour.

Indian Dinner in the Orangery and we invited Justin along because he had never been before.  It was a good evening and nice to be able to pick at the types of food I liked.

We were all zapped and none could keep eyes open so we were all in bed shortly after 10! Bliss!!

Monday 23rd October 2006 – at sea

Phase 3 of the cruise has began with a nice leisurely week at sea.  Because we went to bed at 10 last night I woke up at 4 and we were out on deck by 0630!  But it was hot, sunny and peaceful.  As the morning went on it got hotter and hotter and hotter, but did have a few tropical blasts of rain in between.

Barbeque lunch on Pennant and we sat out there but I had lemon chicken from the Orangery which was very nice.  We returned to our lounger for an hour but the rain came down again and so it was bed for me.  However Liz and Mr C had better ideas and went for long island ice teas and electric lemonades!  I must have passed out because I heard neither of them come back and when I woke up it looked like the a tornado had hit the cabin so I had to tidy up after them. Kids hey!

It was hard work getting up and ready tonight and time was ticking on.  I had a bit of a tantrum (as you do) about the fact that my dresses had all got smaller and my legs and ankles were swollen.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons was nice and Darren put in an appearance for the first time in ages. Bless he has had some very naff shifts this cruise so we haven’t seen a lot of him. He was telling us that so much rain went down the funnel yesterday that it caused all sorts of problems in the engine room last night and Jools and Arf had said they seen sparks coming out of the funnel! Scarey!

We struggled through dinner tonight and I would prefer a little snack  than a full blown meal.  I managed the spicy chicken strips with sweet chilli dip. And the lamb in pastry was very nice, but I struggled with just a small portion of mango sorbet.

We went out on deck and sat in the steamer chairs for half an hour but its still warm and muggy out there and it drains you.

Back into Andersons to find Lizy to find her merrily sitting at the bar with some bright blue creation of a drink.  Jools and Arf came in after popping there head into the theatre to see new singing lady.  Apparently she is not good, and when I went to look for myself she was playing the piano so I never got to hear for myself.

Hughie was sat in Carmens watching Davina trying to host yet another bloody game show.  Passengers have wised up to it now and the room was half empty.  God knows when they will cotton onto the fact that passengers don’t like them.

Disco karaoke in Masquarades was packed.  Don’t know why they call it Disco Kareoke – I think they expect us to dance to it.  I really wanted to stay up but Im sick of drinking and Im tired.  Mr C caved in first and left me and Lizy.  There just haven’t been any teens even near her age this cruise and she has found the evenings a bit of a drag.  During the first week it was ok because Martyn (1st officer Hhiiii) would stand and chat with her but now he is all loved up with a gullable passenger and wants to tuck himself into a corner and have only eyes for the new love of his life!

So we listen to the end of the karaoke and then decide reluctantly to go to bed.  Looks like it will be a good night as its gone 12 and packed in there.  No doubt
I will get the reports tomorrow.

Tuesday 24th October 2006 – At sea

As I suspected, we missed the best night of the cruise in Masquarades last night and the party continued until 0630!  Oh well!

I woke up late this morning and could vaguely hear the 0855 announcement saying that it was overcast outside, so I was in no hurry to get out on deck.  Anyway, Im still glowing from yesterday and it’s a bit sore.

We decided to be dead lazy and order room service.  We had two plates of BLT, two Ciabbatta’s, some cheese and ham toasties and a pot of tea.  Room service is very good and everything we have ever ordered has always been fresh.  Liz often orders a sandwich and they will make her anything she asks for, which she cant get elsewhere on the ship.  We all tucked and and then turned out the lights and went back to sleep.  Well, I must have passed out because I never heard Lizy leave and I slept until 1.00pm!  I went out on deck expecting the worst but it was red hot sunshine – oh well I have had more than my fair share of sunshine.  We wandered around for a while and stopped and chatted with the shop lads for a while in Chrlies.  I did a few laps of prom deck and top deck before stopping by the Orangery for some water and a rest.  I spotted they had some nice looking little tuna rolls and though I would have one.  There was only me and another lady at the sandwich counter, she was hovering and dithering around and I had to wait for her to move before I could select my bread roll.  Eventually she picked up a tuna roll with the tongues and put it on her plate.  She then opened the roll, poked the tuna, licked her finger and threw it back into the sandwich display!!  I was gobsmacked and said ‘you cant do that!’  To which she snapped that she wanted beef.  Where was the beef? ‘Well it doesn’t look like they have any beef but you need to take that bread roll back’  She called a waiter ‘Where’s the beef’
We don’t have any today.  She was going mental so the manager was called and he convinced her that there was no beef today and she walked off in a huff.  I told him about the tuna roll being flung back in after being poked and fair play to him, he removed the tray straight away.  He was as horrified as me and said I should have told him while she was there but cant see what difference it would have made.

Well after that bit of excitement I was worn out and went back to bed and slept solid for another 3 hours.  I haven’t slept at all well all cruise due to my back and the fact that I miss my memory foam mattress, so it all must have caught up with me especially after the hectic run of port days.

Portunus Party this evening and I was in Andersons for my pre party drinks at 7.00pm.  Formal night and heaven knows how I found a dress to fit that I could breath in.  I have put on far too much weight this cruise.  Party in Carmens was a very sociable event and plenty of drinks flowed.  Justin excercised his P&O smile very well.  The draw was made for the new Portunus gift and we all took the mickey as to what it actually was.  It is a very nice silver ice bucket which no doubt cost a few quid, but in all honesty how many people are going to use an ice bucket regular at home?  Comes in a huge box too for transporting home.  But anyway someone on Formica deck won it.  A Mr Arf Jordon!!!  I think Jools was more excited about the bottle of Moet that came with it lol.  It seems Im not the only one having tantrums about dresses not fitting too and Jools had ‘a moment’ whilst getting ready and very nearly never came to the party to win her moet!  I managed to find both Karen and Jools in the same room tonight so now we have all been united and picture evidence has been taken.

A very nice meal and bottle of wine in Medina and the usual larking around and jokes from Jack.  After dinner we ventured to Champions for the Jazz evening.  The theatre company were singing with the Miles Forman Trio and it was very good.  I popped along to Carmens to see what was happening in there and there weren’t many people in there.  Considering it was a formal night there didn’t seem to be much effort made.  The lights were too bright and no hosted ball taking place.  I stopped and chatted to Gillian and family and they all seem to be having a good time too.

We went along to Masquarades and it was dead in there as we guessed it would be.  I think everyone who had been partying last night was still in bed.  Jill and John haven’t been seen all day.  We chatted to Martyn and his chic and the tech guys but the evening never livened up.  Lizy challenged us to stay up until 3.00am but we only managed 2.30am.  As usual we took our usual stroll out on prom and soaked up the balmy tropical air.

Wednesday 25th October 2006 – at sea

I woke up a little late and was convinced my sun lounger would be gone by this time but I turned the corner on deck 12 and there it was waiting for me.  The lady who always gets it when Im not around was literally 2 minutes behind me so there could have been a deck chair war lol.

It’s a lovely hot sunny morning with a light breeze and a flat tropical calm blue sea.  Mr C is fascinated by the flying fish.  We ate breakfast and I had my first cocktail of the day at 10.00am.  We spent the morning dipping in and out of the pool and the Jacuzzi.  At 2.45 I called it a day and gave up my chair to return indoors.  I tried having a nap but it just didn’t happen so it was time to have a tantrum about which informal dress does or doesn’t fit this evening (good job I bought plenty of choice with me)

Apparently as soon as I left my sunlounger the woman who tries to get to it everyday

(but fails) jumped from her lounger to mine lol.  Seems I have a contender for ‘my’ chair!

Having eventually found a dress that fits and is acceptable I was ready and partaking in pre dinner drinks in Andersons, soon joined by Jolls Justin and the rest of the gang.

Dinner this evening was accompanied by a complimentary bottle of wine from David Lee following my comments about the disappointing meal on Pennant a few nights ago, which I thought was a very nice gesture.

After dinner we were some how lured by Justin to Carmens for ABGS (another bloody game show) tonights offering was Give us a Clue but I found Hughie so nauseating that I had to leave and we returned to Andersons while Lizy stopped to watch the ‘fun’ I popped along to the theatre to watch a bit of Buddy Holly, but it was all the same old stuff.

STOP PRESS NEWS – a new theatre company join next cruise and they will be performing 6 new shows!  About time they had a change.

After Andersons we went along to Masquarades and it was really busy in here.  We could tell there was a big long night ahead but we must be getting old (or just enjoying the days too much) and we left around 0130 for bed.  Apparently the room kept going until 0530 and I saw some lads still up from the night before when I went on deck the next morning.

Thursday 26th October 2006 – At sea

Sun lounger wars is getting silly now LOL.  Of course I beat my contender to the sun lounger yet again this morning but she didn’t half scowl at me when she came on deck.  Most of the regulars on deck are very cheerful and we all select our same chairs and all greet one another but not her, she is bitter!  Doesn’t help when Martyn walks past for breakfast at 0815 every morning and shouts ‘I see you got YOUR chair again Jane’  It was a mixture of hot sun and overcast this morning.

Managed to get an appointment for a nail maintenance at 11.00am so by the time that was done it was 1.00pm with the clocks moved forward.  Mum Jack and Mr C went to the Neptune lunch in Alexandria restaurant but I had wet nails so had to sit it out on deck.  Later I had fish chips and mushy peas from sidewalk and very yummy they were too.    I sunbathed until 3 but called it a day and went ot the cabin leaving Mr C on deck.  You guessed it, as soon as I cleared my sunlounger my opponent was onto it.  Mr C said she never spoke a word and she claimed the other lounger too with a reading book.  I popped back on deck to speak to Mr C and sat on empty chair with book to chat to him.  LOL I thought she was going to flip.

Smart Casual night tonight and I thought I was going to struggle for an outfit that suited the occasion and fitted but I excelled myself when I produced yet another new dress I had forgotten about. Andersons pre dinner as usual then onto Medina for a very scrummy meal of Haggis, carrot and coriander soup, turley, fudge surprise ice cream. The flippin wine waitress got my back up again and very nearly got both barrels.  She has had her ass in her hands for a few nights as Justim had had a word with Bar Manager about her over pushyness of after dinner drinks and the fact that she ‘always’ puts the wine on my account without asking.  Tonight we ordered white wine, then she came around with the half price brandy and contreu, she was very insistent and Jack told her at that point to put the bill in his name.  The next thing I knew she was there with the wine bill for me and the £1.15 after dinner drink bill for Jack.  We asked what the heck was going on and she just giggled and smiled until we signed!  That’s either me or Justin stung for the wine every single night of the cruise – I think she likes Jack!

We went for a wander after dinner.  Not a lot happening in Carmens and Caravan were playing to a practically empty room again.  Chatted to Gillian and her mum, then wandered on through to the theatre for yet another boody game show.  Can cook Wont cook – Captain v’s Hughie Taylor.  The audience found it hilarious but I refuse to laugh at Hughie so I had to leave and go to Andersons.  We always have a good night in Andersons and Louise mixes the best cocktails.  We left there very late and went onto Masquarades for one drink before turning in for the night.

Friday 27th October 2006

I woke up at 7 and turned on the TV to check the weather but it was still dark.  Was so tempted to go and reserve my sunlounger and come back to bed just so my opponent couldn’t get it but nah.  Checked the webcam abit later and it appeared to be raining so decided she can have the chair today and fell back to sleep. That is until ‘Hughie flaming Taylor’ came over the tannoy in the cabin to tell us there was a charity ‘cup of tea’ event this morning!  Grrrr…

By the time we got up it was 1.00pm again as the clocks went forward again.  Decided to have a spot of lunch/breakfast from the Orangery.  Sat out the back by Pennant with a very tired Darren who has had to work all the late night shifts this cruise and it isn’t agreeing with his body clock.  Poor bloke looks done in.

It’s a very pleasant sunny day at sea but a little cloudy and there are people sunbathing but I cant be bothered with it today.

We have a stroll around and when we find Liz we have to return to the Orangery with her so she can have some lunch.  Afterwards we sat out on prom by Champions with a cocktail of the day, Harvey Wallbanger, and then me and Liz decided to do laps of the prom in opposite directions to see who made it back to the table first!  What fun we have at sea lol.

Lizy has become the ‘shop lads Mascot’ because she sits on the sofa in Charlies, either studying or reading, while they sell there wonderful wares to the P&O passengers, and they all have a banter and generally have fun.  So we went along to see what they were selling but they are back on designer watches today so they have gone full circle now.

I took to my bed for an hour (very hard work cruising) but then had to get up and showered ready for the Masonic party in Uganda.  Whos silly idea was it to hold that at 1745hrs?  I just stuck on a little black dress as it was black n white night and couldn’t bear the thought of wearing my big ball gown so early.  I then had to go back to the cabin after the party to complete my hair makeup and struggle into my black n white gown.  Geee Whizz it was tight!  I have serious dieting to do when I get back home.  I had to stand for pre dinner drinks and then suffer in agony as I sat through the evening meal.  I had a very nice steak tonight as I didn’t really fancy anything on the menu.

We came out of dinner and had a walk around before deciding enough was enough.  Mr C had been drinking non stop since the party and it had all caught up with him!  I knew it would!!  My dress was killing me!  And lizy was itching to get back to her book, so that was it – bed by 11.00pm!

Oooh I did stick my head in the theatre to see this new singer bloke they have just bought onboard.  Richard Williams – he looks a bit like Herman Munster to me and has a weird square mouth that sort of moves around his face like a cartoon character lol.  His operatic type singing wasn’t bad though.  The only other option on offer tonight was Caravan in Carmens, so there you go an exciting formal night at sea.

Questionaires have turned up in the cabin tonight – oooh where will I start with my comments re entertainment?

Saturday 28th October 2006 – Madeira

&.00am wake up call from mummy again this morning telling us she didn’t want to go ashore!
Well that was thoughtful of her considering we don’t dock for another hour!!  Mr C took the call so as he was now wide awake he went up to take photos of the sunrise and the approach to Madeira while I slept a while longer.

Had breakfast out on Pennant in the warm Madeira sunshine. No other ships in as yet and we are at the very end berth.

We walk ashore with no kids and no oldies – oooh a day on our own perhaps?  A double rainbow is over the stern of the ship and I wonder if there really is a pot of gold in the little house in the hills?  The queue for the boat shuttle is huge so we decide to walk into town – not without a few moans from Mr C!  It showers a little and then bursts into bright sunshine every now and again, but all in all it is a very pleasant day.  It seems a little weird that the place isn’t buzzing with the new year festivities but the shops are preparing for Christmas with crimbo decorations etc.

We stroll back to the harbour and stop for a drink in a café overlooking the ship.
I was so pleased to see Star Clipper come into dock behind Aurora on her way across the Atlantic – bless her she looked so little compared to Aurora. We were soon joined by Lizy and Justin who had been to McDonalds for lunch/breakfast, then we all walked back to the ship as the queue was ten times bigger than massive!

We watched sailaway from the Pennant to the sounds of Tropical Vision and I felt neither sad or glad.  I know I will be back in 8 weeks time so what the heck?

I spent the afternoon washing in the launderette and doing some packing – I hate having to pack on the last day and prefer just to chill out rather than stress over it all at the last minute.  Mr C and Lizy kept out of the way watching a soppy film in the cinema.

Pre dinner drinks in Andersons (where else?  Must make an effort to go to Crows some time!)  A Melon Martini (my favourite) a Oriana Peach Royal, and a Southern Comfort get me in the mood for dining in Café B!

Mum and Jack decide not to join us for the Café B meal (that’ll be something to do with a cover charge then??)  I had one of the best evenings of the whole cruise tonight.  Carvan were playing and we had a table right at the front because I booked as soon as we got on in Southampton and I knew what table I wanted.  Justin accompanied Lizy, Mr C and myself and it was just fab.  We had a delightful meal (although my salmon did have to go back as it was neither hot nor cold) Justin had duck, Lizy had toad in the hole and Mr C had a steak that was huge.  We danced between every course and it was sad when caravan had to finish.

After dinner we did ‘chocolate cake shots’ yumm diddly I like those!!!

Then we went back to Andersons and onto Masquarades.  All in all a fantastic evening at the end of a fab day.  Not many more days left now, but Im not to sad as I feel I have been away for months!

Sunday 29th October 2006 – at sea

We had a nice lay in and as I knew I had a busy social diary today I decided to shower and do my hair this morning rather than later as I knew there just wouldn’t be time later – social butterflys that we are LOL

Portunus lunch in the Alex restaurant at noon.  We should have been hosted by Darren (1st engineer) but he got his days mixed up and was on watch, which is a shame as we haven’t seen alot of him this cruise.  But Justin stepped into his place and had a nice easy table to host after all his organising – mind you Lizy did get u early this morning to help with the table planning.  Lunch was very nice although the rack of lamb was more like lack of lamb!

After lunch we did of flitting between bars before I returned to my bed for a snooze. Mr C was quick to take the mickey about my need for so much sleep but he wasn’t far behind me and we had trouble waking him.

Gillians 30th Birthday party this evening and her mum and dad had organised a surprise party for her so we had to be out and booted and suited early this evening.  Gillian looked absolutely radiant and was obviously gobsmacked at her surprise!

We went to the Crows for a nice quiet romantic drink afterwards and I think it is only the third time we have been in there this cruise.  It was very quiet as it was between dinner sittings.

We then moved onto our usual place in Andersons for pre dinner drinks.  I could have done without dinner tonight but it has to be done and it was very nice.  Trio of salmon, Mediterranean vegetable soup, sorbet, beef Wellington, and fresh fruit salad and a cappachino.

After dinner we went dancing in Carmens and did all the silly party dances and a few proper ballroom dances.  We had a family challenge to stay up until 3.00ambut an hour in Masquarades almost killed me.  I tried to leave 3 times but kept getting forced back.  I had to cave in eventually and left at 0130.  Mr C Lizy and Justin are still there and judging by the amount of people in party mood in there tonight I think it will be a very late one!

Monday 30th October 2006 – last day at sea

Well, well, well,  someone is feeling a little rough today.  Lizy came in at an almost respectable 3.00am this morning (it was a family challenge so at least she lasted that long!)  But Mr C – the same Mr C that has been tired all cruise and has often wanted his bed straight after the evening meal – suddenly found his stay out late head and came rolling in with a big stupid grin on his face at 10 past 6 this morning (Ive been out on a sunlounger at that time some mornings!)  Anyway he is paying the price for it now as he is lying moaning up on Lizys top bunk whilst I have been packing the rest of the stuff.

We had lunch in the Orangery which I was a bit disappointed about as I like to have a leisurely lunch in Café B but the menu wasn’t one of the best.  But Orangery lunch was a very nice pub lunch although I did have did have Cajun chicken and made some very nice wraps with them.

So here I am now, in my cabin surrounded by all the packed cases after 22 fantastic days and nights to the Caribbean and back.  6 suitcases, 2 dress bags, 1 suite carrier, 2 back packs a holdall and a wheelie case somehow have to find their way to the mini bus tomorrow.

Im sitting here writing this in bed with a rum punch kindly supplied by Mr Chadwick for all my hard work and effort of packing and generally organising the mammoth task of what goes where.  Either that or he feels guilty for stopping out last night with his ‘uncle John’  Apparently the nightclub was really buzzing right up until 6 this morning, it wasn’t just a few drunken idiots propping up the bar and even the barstaff said that is unusual of late.

Mr C has just dashed out of the door as it has just been announced that a large school of dolphins are on the port side.

We are almost out of the bay of Biscay and it is so very very calm.  It was far lumpier than this a few days ago so why people worry about the bay of Biscay is beyond me.

The Captain has just announced that we should be alongside by 0630 tomorrow so no doubt mummy will have us up with the larks!

We got to Andersons a little earlier than usual for pre dinner drinks but it was just as well as it got packed in there around 8.00pm.

I wasn’t looking forward to my meal as Ive really had enough food now, but I actually quite enjoyed it.  Smoked salmon on a bed of cuecumber, Roast Pork (mmm I ate all the crackling as the diet starts tomorrow and things like that are strictly off limits) followed by chocolate souffle.  Parade of the Chefs and that was it – all over.  Mind you the meal could pass without Rizlyann or whatever her flippin name was getting my back up one final and last time.  Basically everytimne we had wine at the table she automatically charged my account with it!  Something was said to the Bar Manager and she got a grump on for a while, but still she continued to always charge me for the wine.  Tonight we wondered what would happen and I purposely didn’t speak first when she came to the table.  Justin asked for a sprite, lizy a fanta, Mr C a coke (don’t worry we don’t normally have soft drinks but I think they have all started to detox a little) and I said I would have a glass of wine.  Justin did most of the talking so we took bets that he would get the bill.  No! Wrong ‘Thankyou Mrs Chadwick’ giggle giggle!!  Grrrr.  We even asked why I got the bill and she just giggled – so beware if she comes to your table!

After dinner it was ‘Five minutes of shame/Fame’ in Carmens.  It was packed in there and actually the 8 acts were very entertaining.

Then, wait for it, we had a party night!!!! What a brilliant idea!  Why didn’t the ents department think of that before??  Im speechless, what can I say?  Ive banged on about the lack of entertainment all cruise and the fact that the bands were wasted.  My comments did of course go on the questionare but I really do doubt that they will take notice of them  Its just as well we have a good time despite what goes on around us.

A few final goodbyes and a quick visit to Masquarades to say Bye to Glenn and Aldrin and we were on our way to the cabin.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the cabin – I went into check the CC posts.  Gillian had been telling me earlier about the couple of times she had caught a crew member and a passenger ‘up to no good in there (oooh and if you knew who they were it cant have been a pretty sight) (Jools I’ll let you know who, and I know you will know them instantly LOL) Anyway Gillian and I though it hilarious when she caught me coming out of there late at night and Im sure she was expecting Mr C to follow lol.

Observations and other things

The ship is still undergoing a massive rebranding with the logo etc.  Key cards and most of the paperwork now have the new logo and the shops have just about cleared the old stock at half price, but logos on doors etc are still unchanged and I think it will take them a long time to get it all done.  I still ask why they bother.

I think there are only 64 kids under 18 onboard so it hasn’t been ideal for the older kids from about 12 upwards.  Lizy has been a little bored and if it hadn’t been for the lads in the shop to talk to during the day she would have been really cheesed off.  She has loved the cruise, the weather and the ports and had a really good time when we have been ashore but I know she has found the evenings to be ‘different’  A couple of her Youthie staff friends are onboard but she hasn’t been able to spend much time with them.  I think she will be giving next years Caribbean cruise some careful thought for next year.

There are a strange little pocket of passengers scattered about the ship that me Jools and Mr C have our own little pet names for.  ’Green folder man’ never seen without his green folder even at night!  ‘Batwoman’ she wears bats in her hair lol. ‘Dancing man’ hes just crackers and loves to dance to anything and everything.  ‘Random man’ he just walks up to you and has a full blown conversation with you when you least expect it.  ‘Excentric Lady’  Well she is just plain barking!!! LOL.  There are others but only me, Mr C or Jools know about those lol.

There are also some people we don’t wish to see on a cruise again.  Some right flippin moaning whinging types, some so far up there own asses and even some we refer to as gypsys and then there is the council brigade! (sorry not very complimentary am I)  I don’t think I will forget deckchair woman for a long time – she scowls at me everytime I pass her and all because I sat in the chair she wanted everyday!  Ha ha tough luck deckchair lady! Oh and Jools has a terrible drama to tell about some silly troll!  It takes all sorts to fill a cruise ship I suppose.

Ooh we heard that some ‘youths/kids’ broke open the DJ booth late one night as they wanted more tunes played.  They were told to pay for the damage or they were off.  And it gets worse than that. (If the people concerned are reading this now I hope you are ashamed of yourselves?) We used to speak to a very nice couple from Jersey pre dinner in Andersons at the bar and one night late in the cruise she was very upset.  They were in a cabin on B deck and had already complained about noise from the neighbours.  They had an interconnecting door from the cabin next door so crew came and put extra lagging over it to stop noise travelling through, but it didn’t really help much.  On the night of the Jazz fest in Champions they had seen their neighbours in there with their little boy.  They went to bed and soon after the man and little boy were heard to go to bed too.  Not long after that woman from next door trys to go to bed but didn’t have her key so she started F’ing and blinding calling her hubby various vile words and started kicking at the door until she damaged it to such and extent that it had to be replaced the next day!  When she got inside the cabin she continued to abuse hubby and when the little lad asked her to stop he was reffered to as a little ‘C’.  Why did P&O allow this stupid low life to stay onboard?  There is no question about it for me and they should have just been off the next day.  The poor neighbours were distraught and had to be moved but it took P&O 2 days to ‘find’ her a cabin which I think is disgraceful.

Oh and I hope the woman who had a go at Jools gets her come uppance to as there was no need at all for it.

Dress code – Mmmm well, very hit and miss on a lot of nights.  Most seemed to cope with formals wear although some dresses were a little more daywear than formal. But I have to say, it’s a good job I was comfortable with my choice of clothes as sometimes I came downstairs by Raffles and wondered if I had the correct dress code.  Im still dead against men not wearing a tie on informal nights so maybe I just have higher standards than many?

The crew – lots of familiar faces onboard.  Most senior officers seem to have their wives traveling with them.  Its rather nice when all the senior officers know you by your first name and always have time to stop and chat.  I still think Ian Walters is one of my faveourite captains, probably because he always has time to chat or say hello and shows an interest in Lizy and always comments about when she was a little girl at the coketail parties.   Zak is always very joville, and staff captain and Jane are great fun.  Unfortunatley Hughie just doesn’t come anywhere near to them for frendliness and communication – maybe he just doesn’t like me?

Geoff is due back behind the bar the cruise after next.  Louise is fairly new but is excellent behind a bar and you can tell she has managed her own place.  She is the one to go and see if you want the perfect cocktail or martini mixed.  Clifford has a couple more cruises before going on leave but he wants to return with some sort of officer status maybe as stores manager so we shall see.  Glenn was in Masquarades and Alex in Champions, they were the only bars we frequented really.  A few of the stewards have been around for a while and know what we like to drink and look after us.  Our wine waitress seems to be on her own planet and I wont be sorry not to see her every evening.  She has really got my back up with her silly giggle and the fact that she always charged the wine to my account without asking!  The restaurant manager and head waiter have been fantastic and Leo and Mark have given us excellent service with a smile.  Airene the cabin stewardess has loved seeing mine and Lizys dress every evening as we leave the cabin, bless her she is very sweet and again has done an excellent job.

Entertainment – Mmmmm yes well.  It’s a good job I don’t come on a cruise for the entertainment part.  I have to express my disappointment though at the lack of party nights and deck partys etc.  Most formal nights don’t seem to have coincided with anything in particular and even in Carmens there hasn’t always been a hosted ball.

Tropikal Vision and Caravan have been superb but have been wasted.  We could have had some great deck parties as the tropical weather has given us very warm balmy evenings.  We missed out on 60 & 70’s night due to the fact we went up to Crystal too early and it was sweltering hot with the roof over.  30 minutes later they pulled the roof back and it was a good night.  The only other planned deck party night should have been by the Riviera pool on St Lucia night and unfortunately it rained – but why they didn’t move it to the Crystal pool is beyond me!  Not even any party nights in Carmens with Caravan.  And the tropical steel bamd were wasted in Charlies or Champions or Crows – but heaven forbid that the ents team had to do a bit of thinking outside the box for once!! Im guessing that you either love or you hate Hughie, and yes I thought he was great back in Canberra days but I reckon he is still stuck in those days (just my opinion) and needs to step aside and give some of the new guys a chance.  Him and Davina get off tomorrow and Leon is back for a few cruises before Neil Oliver comes back in time for Christmas I believe.

The people – As well as all the oddballs onboard we have met some fantastic people.  Some old friends and some new friends.

The cruise wouldn’t have been the same without Justin.  He has been fab.  He has made us laugh and as well as being the best loyalty manager at sea, he is also as nutty as a fruitbat.  We have had some great times ashore and him and Lizy have been like a pair of kids messing around and I know the highlight for them was the segways in St Maarten, plus all the silliness at Barbados Boatyard.  He has made Mum feel like the most important woman on the ship and he has creased with laughter at some of Jacks jokes.  Im sure he is going to miss us for the next cruise or maybe he will just return to normal lol.

Jill & John and son Tom.  They are great and we had a fab afternoon ashore with them in Dominica where ‘Uncle John’ developed a liking for rum punch!  Jill & John had some very late nights but all under the watchful eye of their 15 yr old son and I think its so amusing that he came and dragged them out of the nightclub one night because he was sick of them lying in bed hung over all the next day with him doing all the fetching and carrying for them lol. It was uncle
John who kept Mr C in the nightclub until gone 6 this morning – what do fellas find to talk about?

Jools and Arthur – great company and we all seem to be switched onto the same wave length and can laugh at the same things.  The boys usually talked about the wonderful world of photography while me and Jools sumerised the day and the strange people that had crossed our paths.

Karen and Hubby – thanks for eventually coming and hunting me out Karen because Im so bad at remembering faces.  Glad I managed to get you and Jools in the same place at the same time too.

Gillian, Shelia and Michael – such a lovely family.  Shelia handled her missing suitcase situation far better than I ever would have. So laid back about the whole situation. No suitcase full of clothes until Antigua?  I would have been locked up for going mental by then! I never saw Gillian without a smile and always looked stunning.

Mr & Mrs Q – they were Goldies introduced to us on embarkation day and again they were so pleasant and happy to be onboard.  Mr Q had made the most stunning necklace in the craft class so next time I will be looking out for the craft classes.  Oh and they are called Mr & Mrs Q because I haven’t got a clue what there long surname was only that it began with Q.

The nice couple who used to sit in the same sunloungers just by the steps to the Riviera pool every morning.  Always pleasant always cheerful.  On there second cruise and now it turns out we will all be onboard for the Oriana New Year so no doubt I will see them by the pool in 8 weeks time.

There are various other passengers around the ship who had the ‘misfortune’ to sit with Mum & Jack for either a meal or on deck.  Most are still laughing about the 3 legged chicken joke!

The food – to be honest I am sick of the sight of it and wish I hadn’t gone to dinner every night except our picnic on deck night.  Only one more meal to face this evening and hopefully I will make the most of it and enjoy it.  Im even starting to crave for some super speed food (slimmingWorld) and by heck I need it! Im not happy with my weight at all, but at least I have something to aim for when I get home (anther cruise full of eating and drinking!).  I cant wait to eat real toast and a proper cup of tea.  I’d kill for a jacket potato with baked beans and I never want to see another biscuit, cake or pudding ever again as long as I live!

The stores man doesn’t seem to have ordered enough of some things as the ship ran out of ginger beer days ago so that was the end of Moscow mules for me!  They have also ran out of Guiness and some other beers.  We haven’t had nibbles on the bar in Andersons for well over a week, but now they have found some dry tasteless nuts for us.  We resorted to a bag of walkers crisps with our pre dinner drinks last night!  Hot chocolate disappeared well before Madeira but got replaced with some weird foreign stuff.  The little pots of milk also got replaced with some foreign stearlized yuk stuff that makes the tea taste worse. And you consider yourself lucky if you find a packet of sweetner.  Cant be rocket science for P&O to order and store enough provisions surely?

Speaking of food, I collected a huge carrier bag full of biscuits which I haven’t counted, but I did intend giving some to the youthies and bringing some home as I usually do, but the youthies that we usually give them to are disembarking tomorrow so they have all gone in a suitcase.  If they survive without turning to crumbs we should have enough to see us into 2007!

I also have 54 pillow chocolates (we must have eaten 12 during the cruise at some point) to put in the fridge when I get home and I will allow myself a treat of one a day if I am good and stick to my diet. Oh and some of them are in red wrapping rather than the usual blue paper.  They appeared mid cruise but soon returned to blue so don’t know what all that was about.

Oh and I had a new collecting game this cruise.  I saved the stirring sticks out of my cocktails and I currently have 139 of them!!!  That’ll be why Im carrying a spare tire around with me then!  That’s a lot of cocktail research, even for me!

The ship – its still as good as it has ever been.  It still looks great and has been a welcome sight in the heat of the Caribbean. I cant really fault nothing about the ship or the service and will be more than happy to return to her next year.  There I no signs of her looking tired or worn out and the lads are about on deck constantly touching her up with paintbrushes on things that don’t look to be a problem to me.  I do wish P&O would ditch the wornout looking bed spreads though and just freshen up the cabin furnishings.

Our cabin on D deck is in an ideal position, just 2 doors away from the library.  Sometimes we could even pick up the wireless access from our cabin.  Our cabin was almost like our bedroom, Raffles became our personal lounge with comfy chairs to chill out in.  Sometimes I would go down the stairs by Raffles bar and look across at Charlies marble floor and table and think that could be our hallway!  LOL I do live in a silly dream world sometimes

Embrkation/Disembarkation – We checked in as soon as the desks opened at Southampton and walked straight on the ship as Goldies without entering the lounge.  Normal embarkation started at around 1.00pm and passengers flowed on quite quickly and were served lunch in the Orangery.  Some people ignored the fact that cabins weren’t available for use yet and went to their cabins anyway, which I think is rather sill as it could mean P&O put a stop to early embarkation if passenger ignore their request not to go until cabins are announced ready for use.

Disembarkation seems to be starting even earlier tomorrow.  We have orange which are the first off and this is usually at around 0915.  However, we have been given a disembarkation time of 0840.  I did think about calling our taxi company and asking them to get here earlier but decided to just embark at our leisure.  P&O also offer the ability to self disembark at 0730 providing you carry all your own luggage in one go!  Mmmm cant think there will be many able to do that after 3 weeks at sea.  Hopefully disembarkation wont be too chaotic and mother wont get her knickers in too much of a twist in the morning.

Internet/CC access

Using the internet is fairly easy to log on to.  If you have a laptop you need a wireless card, or you can hire one from the cyberstudy.  There are also a xouple of terminals where you can just plug the laptop in.  There’s a one off fee of £1.95 plus the time plan you choose.  100 mins is £16.95 I think?  An hour was about £10 and you could choose to log on at 30p a minute.  It want superfast but not slow either if you know what I mean.  You could write in word for no cost.  Printing was 25p per sheet!

To log onto CC, just click on internet which gives you the logon page for connection to internet – ignore all that and the P&O website button is bottom left of that screen.  I hadn’t spotted it until Cruisa said that he was posting on CC for free.

Upselling

This really gets on my nerves.  Its like everywhere you go its thrown at you.  The bars have promotion posters and displays on them, the wine waitress hassles you to buy half price after dinner drinks, the shops set up the stalls in Charlies and later move to the bottom of the Atrium, the salon staff are on at you constantly to but hair straighners, hair product, magic make up etc etc.  If I want a drink I got to the bar, same as if I want something from the shop I go into the shop, and if
I want something done at the salon I go and book for it.  I just don’t like or want things thrown at me all the time.  All a sign of Carnivalisation I suppose?!

The Ports – I loved them all.  Antigua probably still remains my favourite because I like the dress shops and the beach at Dark Wood.  Dominica everyone said don’t expect much, and we didn’t but it was better than I thought.  Barbados, we had a great day at the Boatyard but next time I want Mr C to see more of the island.  St Maarten – it just has everything doesn’t it?  Beach, good shopping and plenty of places to eat and drink.  St Lucia, mmmm still doesn’t inspire me but next time I want to go over to the Piton side. Grenada, mmmm it has never really inspired me as a nice port of call and I came away feeling pretty much the same this time.  Matbe next time we will go to the beach? Ponta Delgada isn’t as bed as everyone makes out and Ive always had a pleasant day there.  Madeira is lovely but sometimes it just feels like we are ‘there again’ if you know what I mean?

Tuesday 31st October 2006 – Southampton

Well, that’s it all over L back in Southampton, cruise over, finito!  They really do seem to want you out of the cabins by 8.00am.  The very very long and detailed bill was sitting in our cabin letter box – I do hope Mum didn’t take her usual nosey peak at it as she might have keeled over.  Heck it was a big one, but who cares?
We were amazed to go for late sitting breakfast in the restaurant and get in without any problem.  In the past if you didn’t get in the queue 30 mins before you faced the doors being closed on you.  But it seemed very empty.  So a very pleasant relaxed breakfast with our final bit of waiter service.

We delivered Mum to Andersons for her assisted disembarkation and as we seemed to be the only people on D deck still in our cabin we quickly vacated and went down to F deck.  Orange had already been called so we stood back and waited for the mass to clear and then we left the ship.  Totally hassle free.  We collected the cases quickly with my special identification system I have for the cases.  Well I say quickly, it could have been quicker if old people didn’t insist on just stopping and standing aimlessly in the baggage hall instead of standing to one side while there other halves looked for their luggage!

We walked through customs and I was rather nervous.  Most tables had someone pulled over and their bags going through.  Two customs people were looking for the next one to nab but I just took a few deep breaths and carried on.  I heard one custom man ask a woman what she had bought and she said 200 ciggies and a litre of vodka!  Mmmmm, I doubt it very much as she didn’t look the innocent type.  By the time Mum and Jack came through the custom hall 35 minutes later Jack said there were 1000’s and 1000’s of ciggies piled up on the desks waiting to be bagged up and destroyed.  Booze and ciggies were so cheap that I think everyone risked it, but looks like a lot got caught out.  We didn’t buy any ciggies but
I have to confess to having rather an excess amount of rum in various places, plus my 100% southern comfort, some strawberry vodka, some rum liquer, frangelico and a litre of Goldsclager!  Plus the perfumes and aftershaves – oopps!

The taxi driver turned up at the same time as mum and jack coming through and we were on the road at 0945.  He was on a mission and he got us home for midday even after stopping to refuel!

Its cold and miserable.  The house is spotless which is rather suspicious!!But I shouldn’t complain, bless him I think Adam has been up to no good and he must have paid someone to get the house this neat and clean.

Mr C and Liz have gone to Tesco’s and I have just skimmed through my 370+ work emails and I don’t know where to start so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I have to try and cook some super speed food for this evenings meal as I have a cruise in 8 weeks time and the dresses aren’t fitting to good at the moment!

So that’s it, no time for the PCB’s.  NCL Pearl party cruise for 2 nights on 30th of this month and then we will be all excited and looking forward to our New Year trip on Oriana.

Please feel Free to leave a comment below and you can view the rest of my pictures here in the Aurora Octobor 06 slideshow